Already Been Chewed
Ok this will date me, but when I was a kid there was a practice that was pretty disgusting. Myself or one of my siblings would eat our piece of Juicy Fruit gum and once most of the taste was gone and we didn’t want to chew it anymore, we would give it to our mom and she would chew it for a while. I know, ick! Gross! Of course we got the first big burst of flavor and our mom didn’t get much, since the flavor was gone by then, because it was ABC gum-ALREADY BEEN CHEWED gum. But that first burst of flavor was SO GOOD!
It’s the same with the Bible. While it’s good to have a balance between being taught the Word and studying the Word yourself, many people get way too much teaching and not enough personal study. This is why I am including in my website, some tools for studying the Bible under the Feasting menu tab. If you haven’t read my post called Bible Excavating (click here-https://mommorsels.com/2023/06/11/bible-excavating/), please go back and read it. It explains how to study the Bible looking at the Greek and Hebrew roots with an example from scripture .
When I teach you, I have already CHEWED the Word and gotten that first burst of flavor for myself then I am giving you what I already chewed or studied. While you are getting what I learned from the Word, it’s just SO MUCH JUICIER when you get the treasure of the Word for yourself. There is just nothing like when the Holy Spirit highlights a passage for you and shows you how it applies to your life. And it’s even better when you dig a little deeper and find those TREASURES that are hidden deep in the Greek and Hebrew roots. Are you excited yet? I just have to tell you that studying God’s Word this way is SO MUCH FUN!
We are encouraged to search the scriptures ourselves in Acts 17:10-11 New American Standard Bible:
And the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas by night to Berea; and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.
Well, first of all, don’t you just want to be NOBLE-MINDED? It sounds so good, doesn’t it? Noble-minded here means “to be well off, fare well, prosper.” Yes, of course, I want to be that! I want to be well off. I want to fare well. I want to prosper. So to be all that, you need to be like the Bereans and take time to examine or study the Scriptures for yourself.
Jesus Himself said in John 16:13 NASB:
But when He, the Holy Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth…
So as you study the Scripture yourself the Holy Spirit will guide you. This is not to say that you don’t also need to be taught. God has put teachers and pastors in place to help you stay in the truth as well. There is a balance. You shouldn’t be a sheep alone away from the flock either, just studying on your own with NO teaching, because the wolf (satan) can more easily pick off a sheep that is away from the protection of the flock (church community, pastoral teaching).
Hopefully, I have motivated you to get into the Word and study it yourself. Studying the Word through looking up the Greek and Hebrew, word study, reference study-it is MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE! If it isn’t already, I hope it will become your favorite too! Please don’t settle for only Already Been Chewed Word; do some of your own digging, and
GET SOME OF THOSE FLAVORFUL TREASURES FOR YOURSELF!
In His Love,
Suzanne
Mom Morsels 