Day 16: Spending Time in the Word

Posted by Patrick in 100 Days of Integrity, Devotions, God-time, Religion

Getting back to my study through 100 Days of Integrity for Men, I find that the next day’s topic is something that I really struggle to do: spend regular, consistent time reading the Bible.

The book is full of what should be obvious points for any Christian: that spending time in God’s word gives us a road map for the way we’re supposed to live. That spending time with the Bible educates us about the promises and provisions that God has made for us.

I know all of that. Really.

It comes down to, I’m sorry to say, a matter of often just failing to make time to do it. It’s embarrassing what I end up putting as a higher priority than reading the book God specifically gave us to help us better understand Him and what He wants for us. Things like watching TV, writing, eating, being plumb lazy.

But I’m more likely to do any of those things sometimes than I am to make a real effort to read the Bible regularly.

I say “regularly” because I’m nowhere near reading it every day.

What has gotten me spending more time studying it more than anything else is when I hear Christians (and, occasionally, non-believers) try to quote the Bible in a context that really makes no sense.

Here’s a perfect example, and it’s one of those verses I wish we could remove from the Bible, not because it’s a bad verse in and of itself, but because of the way it is so universally misused.

The verse is from Matthew, Chapter 18:

“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”

I can imagine some of you have already groaned. Oh, yes. You’ve heard this one, conveniently enough, whenever two or more do happen to come together in prayer. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

It does make you feel better at the thought. Unless you happen to then recall the dramatically-recited verse when you happen to be by yourself and ready to spend some time in prayer with God.

Then, it hits you.

“Wait a second. The Bible says there has to be ‘two or more.’ I’m just one. So God isn’t here? He isn’t listening? He doesn’t hear my prayer? But hold on, God is everywhere. He hears all and sees all.”

Then the “Tilt” light starts blinking and your brain begins to smoke at the sheer lack of logic.

And one can read the book of Mark and find numerous references to Jesus Himself going off to be alone to spend time with God.  Alone.  By the logic of the incorrect, out-of-context usage of this passage, we have to conclude that God wasn’t there when His own Son, facing His coming crucifixion, was praying to Him in solitude.

It hardly takes a math major to realize that this doesn’t add up.

So if you go back to Matthew, chapter 18, and read that verse in context, you get a different picture:  the passage is talking about righting wrongs between individuals, and what happens if the wrongdoer refuses to admit his mistake.  Here’s Matthew 18:15-20, in a slightly different translation:

“If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the fault. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. If that person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. If the church decides you are right, but the other person won’t accept it, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector. I tell you this: Whatever you prohibit on earth is prohibited in heaven, and whatever you allow on earth is allowed in heaven. I also tell you this: If two of you agree down here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together because they are mine, I am there among them.”

Essentially, what it’s saying is that if you’re trying to resolve a conflict within the faith and you work together with someone for the right reasons, bringing in a third party to make sure that your motives are true and Godly, as opposed to letting anger or your own pride get the better of you, then God will have your back.

When we actually take time to study God’s word, which I am trying to make myself do more regularly, we begin to see little things like this in the original context, and they begin to speak to us in a new way.

To me, the passage about “two or more” is so much more powerful when it’s interpreted in context: when we’re living lives of integrity, putting God’s agenda before our own, God is there. That’s a message of hope we all need to keep in mind.