Retirement Ruminating

Back in those pre-retirement days, I spent much of my time working near a sanctuary and I often used it as place of meditating on the Word.  Now, the sanctuary is no longer a door away.  Instead there is a cow pasture just out the front door so when I contemplate a passage of scripture as I did back in the sanctuary days, I call it ruminating instead of meditating.  Cows ruminate.  I have learned a lot about their ways by watching.  Cows ruminate, or chew their cud.  They swallow their food, bring it up, and chew on it while they sit down.  Interesting. 

 

Today I have been ruminating, or chewing on a passage of scripture from which I plan to preach tomorrow. While I usually preach on one of the gospel resurrection accounts, tomorrow I am going to focus on I Corinthians 15.  Those who are Biblical students will immediately remember the chapter as one of the great chapters on resurrection.  What has struck me today has been a little aside Word which seems to hang out in my mind.  As Paul writes about what Christ did for us through His life, death, and resurrection, he twice uses the phrase, "in accordance with the scriptures."  While my sermon is going to go in a different direction, all day I have chewing on that twice used phrase.

 

What Jesus did was in accordance with the sacred Word.  As I have chewed on it today, I have found myself thinking often about a life lived in accordance with the sacred Word.  First, in order to live our life in accordance with the scripture, we must read the Word.  Not casually, but seriously.  And, as we do it, we need to lay aside some of the aids to understanding for a bit so that the Holy Spirit has an opportunity to do some teaching before our mind and heart gets cluttered with something someone else thinks about a passage.  What a novel idea.  Living life in accordance with the Scripture. Ruminate.  Chew on it awhile.