You can only give what you’ve got.
I can have a huge appetite for things. And by appetite, I’m talking about the things I consume with my senses as well as the things I consume through eating and drinking. What I’ve noticed is that the things I consume due to my appetite for it can influence my approach to other things. As I consume and am filled with these things, they naturally flow from me.
I used to be totally consumed with top-flight football, so it wouldn’t take much to get me talking about it. On and on, issue after issue, I’d speak on the matter and not get tired, and I’d be hungry for more insights in the game that could fill me up.
The upbringing indicated what people appreciated about Bible study, and we had them regularly. It helped people be informed and educated about the Word of God, but it didn’t always lead to people knowing God more or being sensitive to how the Spirit wants them to become.
When I read the instruction that man doesn’t live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from God’s mouth, that’s a word to me about appetite. That’s not just an invitation to be knowledgeable in the scriptures. It’s the invitation to know the Word, take Him in, be filled with Him and grow in loving Him. As a result of that, what tends to flow will be about what you’re full of.
Thus, the idea of Word In, Word Out (WIWO) is not just to fill brains with information. It’s to develop the process of knowing God and cultivating a greater appetite for Him in His Word through time spent exploring and engaging with it, by the Spirit.
The idea is that we would grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. The idea is that what goes in will help what comes out, and it won’t defile, but it will bless.
For His Name’s Sake
C. L. J. Dryden
Shalom
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