I'm visiting my sister at college. Not that this is unusual for me; I've been up to visit at least half a dozen times since August. But, as I'm sure every graduate who returns can agree, it is much different in many aspects than the time you spent there yourself.
I was in the shower this morning, of all places, and someone had put up a devotional on the wall. First of all, I think that's fantastic, and wish I would have thought of it while I was in the dorms. Secondly, the author said that she had been, "reading a little A.W. Tozer", which made me giggle, because it is my firm belief that Tozer writes nothing that is "little". Everything I ever seem to read of his is mind-blowing and inspirational. So I had a small chuckle at this.
But my third point is my strongest one. I read the devotional, liked it, tried to think about it while in the shower. The author seemed to start out with strong language to me, and I appreciated her style. (And I keep using the feminine pronouns because it's an all-girls dorm, and I am pretty sure no guys would go in to put devos in the girls' showers. I would find that entirely creepy.) It wasn't until a few minutes later did I realize that I had read the devotional without looking at the Scripture at the top. And the strong intro was really only an extension of the Scripture.
I had to stand still for a moment, with hot water pouring down my back and ask myself, "What does that say about me?" Let me explain: I consider myself an intellectual enthusiast. While I may think that I hold some amount of intellect, I am more interested in the pursuit of intellect, and the discussions that I feel perpetuate a growth in knowledge and express evidence of it. So, I was quite excited to hear someone else's thoughts about the content matter. So excited, in fact, that I paid no attention to the Scriptural basis for the thoughts.
Since when have I decided that there are parts of Scripture that are 'less intelligent' than others? This particular passage was a section from the psalms; did I somehow think that it was less important than what was written by this girl? It's not like I didn't see it; it was a paragraph in italics at the top of the page. If I want a chunk of Scripture that I can really dig into, I head to the New Testament, and I'll save the Psalms for an emotional catharsis. Where did I learn how to categorize Scripture like that and not allow the full impact of God's Word to transcend my mental boundaries? This is only one of those things that is running through my mind at a fast pace and causing me a little bit of grief today.
Geez, way to go, self. Now knock it off.
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2 comments:
Hmmm... see, I think you might be going in a slightly wrong direction with this. I think there are definitely parts of Scripture that more easily lend themselves to intellectual though than others. St. Paul was a scholar, and his writings therefore are scholarly (and thus more intellectual). The Psalms aren't about being intellectual at all. Not that intellectual things can't be gained from reading the Psalms, but I don't think you're limiting Scripture by placing them in difference categories. In fact, one could say that placing Scripture in a category it's not well-suited for is limiting. While the Psalms have some intellectual aspects to them, and God can, of course, speak through any Scripture, the Psalms aren't as intellectual as, say, I Thessalonians. It's not limiting, it's simply stating a fact.
To draw a parallel I know you will appreciate, it would be kind of like criticizing myself for putting Rolls Royce and Lamborghini in different categories. Both are very nice, very powerful cars (or brands, rather), but are meant for entirely different purposes. But they're both still cars, and you could technically use a Rolls Royce for super fast driving and a Lamborghini for luxurious driving.
Maybe I'm just missing your point entirely, though.
No, I think you got one point I was trying to make. To which I reply that yes, I think you are correct in this. The other point that I had was the fact that I had completely skipped over the verses at the top of the devotional, and didn't notice for a good five minutes. The first point came from pondering as to WHY I skipped the Scripture. I mean, really, it's like I put up some sort of block against reading it. And I wasn't quite sure what lead to that. Because of course, I have to have a reason for everything. ;-)
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