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  Flight Paths

Wordplay

3/19/2013

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Wordplay

I have discovered a little trick to help me get more out of my Bible study.  Too often, I read through passages that deal directly with things in my life without even realizing that they do.  It just goes right past me.  So, after a little meditation, I find something comparable in my own culture and time that I can “plant” into the passage.  Please note:  I am not trying to change the Word of God or make my own “private interpretation.”  I just want to be able to apply it to me and my problems so I can grow.  Here are a couple that have really helped me.  The bracketed words are the ones I planted.  You might want to read the cited passage before reading these altered ones.

Rom 2:24,25:  For the name of God is blasphemed among [people of the world] because of you, even as it is written.  For [baptism] indeed profits if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your [baptism] has become [un-baptism]. 

Since circumcision, the token of the Old Covenant, is compared to baptism in Col 2:11,12, this was a no-brainer.  However, if you press it too far, you could wind up with a theological problem or two, so be careful.  The point is to make a passage sing out loud to you!  Reading the passage this way I can see that I cannot rely on having once been baptized to save me if my life does not live up to the New Covenant it represents.

1 Cor 13:1-3:  [If I go to church three times a week in a certain building with a certain sign over the door] but have not love, I am become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  [If I take the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week, give more than a tenth, sing loudly, and say amen to every prayer] but have not love, I am nothing.  [If I don’t cheat on my spouse, lie, drink, or cuss] but have not love it profits me nothing. 

As you can imagine, that one really strikes home.  How many times do I define faithfulness as “going to church and not doing the big bad sins?”  Faithfulness to the Lord involves striving to become like Him, and that means learning a selfless love, not following a learned routine.

I believe the Word of God is alive and relevant to everyone’s life; God meant it to be that way.  Keeping it limited to another time and culture may make me feel better, but it won’t do a thing for my soul.  So give yourself some help today with a little wordplay.

For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart, Heb 4:12.

Dene Ward

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    Dene Ward has taught the Bible for more than  forty years, spoken at women’s retreats and lectureships, and has written both devotional books and class materials. She lives in Lake Butler, Florida, with her husband Keith.


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