Introduction: FOOD FOR THOUGHT

  The Bible ‘menu’ is a full one, with lots of interesting things to try. Some portions may be an acquired taste but it is worth being adventurous. There are two ways of approaching this feast: to feed often on the spiritual food there, having a regular and balanced diet so that we are sustained daily, or treat it as the equivalent of fast food, a way to get satisfaction when we feel in the need of filling up.

  I hope you don’t mind me butting in, only I was wondering if by all this talk about food you meant we can either read the Bible a lot or just a bit?

  I suppose that sums it up.

  You could just not read it at all but that would be like starving yourself!

  Quite. Now, as I was saying...

  But what does God say?

  About what?

  Whether we ought to read his book a lot or just a bit.

  Well, click on the Bible buttons and you can read it for yourself. Jesus said,

  It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4

  And this is from Acts about people in a place called Berea, where Paul preached:

  These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the scriptures daily, to find out whether these things were so. Acts 17:11

  And Paul wrote this to his friend, Timothy:

  From childhood you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness 2Timothy 3:15&16

  The message is that if we are to live, to know truth and be wise for salvation then we should make the Bible a staple diet. To put it another way, we should turn to our maker's handbook regularly for direction and guidance and not just when we have got lost. Not that it is likely to be unhelpful then, anymore than fast food is not okay to fall back on sometimes, but we are not going to get the best from it or from ourselves.

  So why is that?

  To live the sort of lives God wants us to live needs key changes in attitudes and direction. And this means developing a character like his. Jesus said, "You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect". (Matthew 5:48)

  As perfect as God! That is impossible!

  Not as impossible as it sounds. It is the aim of a lifetime although it will not be accomplished until the next. See what John says in his first letter:

  Beloved, now are we the children of God: and it has not been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2)

  But God has not left us to do it on our own. First he has sent his son, Jesus Christ to show us what he is like, and secondly we have the Bible’s record not just of his life but also those of other men and women whose lives are examples and warnings to us. By reading scripture we can find out what God is like and what he requires of us.

  How can a young man [as this writer probably was] cleanse his way?
By taking heed according to your word
Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against you.
Psalm 119:9&11

  And what is God like?

  Here are some more Bible verses that describe him:

  The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. Exodus 34:6&7

  The word became flesh among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth For the Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. John 1:14-18

  That’s all very well, but it takes time to read the Bible - it’s such a big book - and to be honest some of it looks, well, stodgy.

  The trouble is fast food often looks tastier than something that takes time to prepare. Our staple diet might seem unpalatable but we don't have to start off with the ‘real meat’: "As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious". (1 Peter 2:2&3)

  So the process of developing a character that God would like us to have us is a gradual one. It is often an exciting and fulfilling one too, despite occasional setbacks, as we shall see.