(Paul R. Blake)

"And it happened as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, 'Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!' But He said, "More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" (Luke 11:27-28).

The shallow perspective, the cursory glance, the surface scan... we have time for little more. Our days are filled with a frenetic bustle of activity that we call "busy" that all too closely resembles the blurred scurry of ants when the top of the ant hill has been kicked. We rush from one activity to the next, from work to get the children from school, from school to soccer practice, from the soccer field to the PTA meeting, from the meeting to the bowling league, from the... I think you get the point.

We have little time left over for conversation, contemplation, or cultivation. We have hundreds of acquaintances, but precious few friends. Our children have it better than we did, but we know our children much less than our parents knew us when we were children. We have all of the latest expensive time saving devices and have no time left for matters of genuine value. We live life on its spiritually impoverished outer shell without ever slowing down enough to examine the soul satisfying riches heaped up just beneath the surface.

The woman who excitedly shouted a blessing upon the mother of Jesus was speaking from a shallow, limited perspective. She saw the physical origins of Jesus rather than the Divine purpose for which He had come. Her focus on the physical shaded her vision from the spiritual.

It was a thrilling time. The crowd had just witnessed the Teacher perform a miracle and silence His critics. The sentiment of the multitude favored Him. This woman was merely expressing what many of the women in the crowd may have also been thinking, that is, wouldn't it be wonderful to be this young man's mother. However, the Savior responded to her sincere compliment by saying, "More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of the Lord and keep it!"

The principle is clear: look beyond the external appearance and discern the true substance. Do not be so distracted by the flesh of the Son of God that His mission is overlooked. Even Mary who bore the Christ in her flesh was not blessed because of her physical proximity with the Christ, but rather because she heard the word of God and kept it. In reality, the only lasting relationships that Jesus recognized were through the word.

This truth is illustrated in Matthew 12:47-50. "Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."

The apostle Peter fell prey to this pattern of thought. When Jesus was transfigured on the Mount and stood with Moses and Elijah, Peter ecstatically proposed that three shrines be erected to pay homage to them. Peter was caught up in the moment, thinking only of how great a wonder he was witnessing. So distracted was he by the presence of the two prophets, he did not stop to think of what their manifestation implied. It did not occur to him that this event glorified Christ, singling him out as God's spokesman for this dispensation. Peter just looked at the surface. (Matthew 17:1-5)

How many of us approach the greatest wonder this world has ever known, the complete revelation of the will of God, in just the same fashion? Do our "busy" lives influence the way in which we study and understand its precepts?

Some Christians go through life with nothing more than a weak grasp of what is written in the Bible. They have a rudimentary knowledge of the plan of salvation, they know what to do when the church comes together for worship, they know that some activities are immoral, and they know the names of a few Bible characters. This is surely the state of spiritual poverty! "My people are perishing for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you" (Hosea 4:6).

Others treat the word of God like the Pennsylvania Code of Highway Safety; they know all of the rules, and can possibly recite them verbatim. But they give little thought about the purpose and benefit of the law. They are like the Israelites who viewed the law of God as a tedious set of rules to be memorized. "And their fear of Me is as it were a commandment of men learned by rote" (Isaiah 29:13ff). "But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken" (Isaiah 29:13).

The gospel of Christ is a life transforming treatise. It is designed to change the inner man, not just his outer conduct. "That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." (Ephesians 4:22-24)

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." (Romans 12:1-3)

"But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." (Romans 6:17,18)

When Paul said, "Study to show thyself approved unto God" (2 Timothy 2:15), he did not mean to study the Bible as if one were memorizing facts for a quiz at school.

So how do we gain a deeper perspective in Holy Writ? Slow down. Read the Bible in a unhurried manner. Don't wait until you have no time to thoughtfully study it, and then read a passage like someone eating a hamburger on the run. Second, read it calmly. Your mind will embrace the scriptures' profound message when your reasoning is as open as the book. Last, spend time thinking about what you have read.

Meditation is an ancient practice desperately needed by our hectic, contemporary culture. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper" (Psalm 1:1-3). "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day" (Psalm 119:97). Slow down, study, think, and truly live!

The Dust-Covered Book

They read the "Journal" and the "News,"

The "Green Book" and the "Red,"

They kept the serials of the month

Securely in their head.

They went through books both old & new,

Best sellers, too, they thought;

They read the jokes and studied styles;

No item went for naught.

They read the sporting page; they knew

Each athlete by his name;

They read of baseball, football, golf;

Familiar with each game.

They looked the funny paper through;

They watched the mails to seize

The magazine they liked the best,

Whose columns most did please.

But in their home there was a book

With pages never turned,

Whose message of truth and hope

Was still by them unlearned -

The Book that tells of Him who came

To earth that we might know

The beauty of a sinless life,

Lived here so long ago. (Unknown)