Intimacy Grounded in Scripture - God’s love letter to humanity

One of the fundamental ways we pursue intimacy with God is by grounding ourselves in scripture. A biblically grounded spirituality guides a leader to know God intimately. You cannot expect to deepen your faith and relationship with God or help others without a growing understanding and value of the Bible. Christ Webb says, “the purpose of the Bible is to lead us into an adoring love of the triune God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” One challenge for us evangelicals in our value of scripture is that we often elevate scripture to the place of God (idolatry) and approach the Bible as a tool or literature to master rather than as God’s love letter to humanity. 

Web guides readers towards a healthier understanding of Scripture, saying, “As we learn to approach the Bible as lovers rather than as theorists, we discover the startling degree to which God reveals himself, makes himself known, manifests himself to us through the act of reading. God is fully present to us as we meet him on the holy ground of Scripture.” Thus, Scripture has a consistently formative place in our lives as lovers of God. Scripture reveals God and guides us toward intimacy. Webb says:

“If we truly desire to encounter God in Scripture on a regular, habitual basis in the midst of our frenetic and sometimes chaotic lives, we need first to cultivate the skill of maintaining a disciplined and sustained attentiveness toward God. Reading begins with perception, the ability to encounter Scripture to allow it to become internalized, part of our own minds and souls. This requires us to pay attention to the text, but even more so to pay attention to God who meets us in the text.”

In 1 Peter 1:24-25, Peter quotes Isaiah saying, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” Fads or trends, though potentially helpful, will come and go. Influential leaders recognize and use appropriate and strategic trends of the times and situations in which they lead. But if we base our leadership on fads, the impact lacks the eternal basis that the Bible provides, which never goes out of style. The impact of a ministry grounded in Scripture lasts beyond any individual, church, or organization. 

^^ Click image to get the book ^^

Your primary relationship as a Christ-following leader is your relationship with God, the epicenter from which other healthy relationships flow. Scripture is a significant element of growing intimacy with God. 

What challenges you in this post, striking a good chord or a note of resistance? What invitation is there from God as you consider how His word guides you in your relationship with Him? I’d encourage you to get the book below by Chris Webb and work through it slowly, practicing the different disciplines He writes about.

Here’s a throwback song Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet, by Amy Grant.