Let’s Try It Together

One day I received a call at the pharmacy from a customer asking me to fill her “liver medicine.” “Liver medicine?” I asked. “Yes, those pills I take for my liver,” she explained. Given that I knew she was not taking any “liver pills,” I decided to look through her profile, recite the names of each medication listed, and try to figure out which one she was mistaking to be “for her liver.”   My hope was that she will hear the name and say, “yeah, that one.”

“Ok, ma’am, I see Simvastatin, for your cholesterol; Lisinopril, for your blood pressure; Furosemide, your water-pill; levothyroxine, your . . .”

“That’s it, LIVER-thyroxine, for my liver!” she interrupted and exclaimed.

I gently corrected her and said, “Ma’am, it is called LEVOthyroxine, and it’s for your thyroid, not LIVER-thyroxine for your liver.”

She said, “oh, really?”

While her reasoning was indeed hilarious, my staff and I often remind ourselves that the one and only reason we have not made that exact mistake is due to the time we have spent pronouncing, dispensing, and explaining medications to others. Day after day, we handle, read about, hear about, and look at these pills. As a result of repeated, ongoing, and persistent exposure, we have learned a thing or two. We, perhaps, know things that someone who does not do what we spend 40+ hours per week doing may not know.

By the same token, an accountant could run circles around me with auditing procedures; a teacher could school me on lesson planning and classroom management; a stay-at-home mom could teach me a thing or two about multitasking with ease. Why? It is a result of crafting their skills with repeated, ongoing, and persistent exposure and practice.

Turns out, the more we practice something the better we become at doing it. We all have some degree of expertise in our respective fields of study or work.  That’s great. We should be proud. Now, I want to ask us this: are we as competent in our knowledge of God’s Word and its principles as we are with our jobs, hobbies, and household tasks? Are we intentionally becoming experts in this area?

Paul wrote, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness . . .” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NIV). If we want to be more “thoroughly equipped for every good work,” we can start by reading scripture daily. As a result, we will develop a degree of expertise in our ability to more consistently apply its principles.

Let’s try it . . . together. Let’s daily handle, read about, hear about, and look at His Word. Let’s repeatedly and persistently expose ourselves to the truth.

Here is the idea:

I recently completed a Bible study on the books of 1st and 2nd Samuel. It was so intriguing that I want to do it again! But this time I’d love for you to join me. I’m calling it Spending the Summer in Samuel. Beginning June 1^st, 2017 through August 31^st, 2017 we will trek weekly through these two books of the Bible.

Perhaps you’ve been talking about diving back into God’s Word on a consistent basis but need a gentle nudge to get you going. Or maybe you’re looking to God’s Word for guidance and wisdom for the first time and would appreciate some structure and accountability. Then there you are: you’ve never really desired to read the Bible, but are open to trying new things. These weekly summer Thursday’s Thirst QuencHERs could not come at a better time!

Grab a notebook and a Bible and join me as, together, we allow Him to transform us with His Word. By September 2017, if something other than the Truth comes our way, we will be better equipped to gently correct it.

Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to graciously expand our knowledge in this area as we spend the Summer in Samuel.

 

*Reading Assignment for May 26^th – May 31^st: 1 Samuel Chapters 1-5 

(No worries– based on my research of the average reading speed being 200 wpm,  all 5 of these short chapters can be read in less than 20 minutes and you have a whole entire week!!— Girlfriends, we’ve got this!!:)

 

(If reading via email, click here & scroll to the bottom to listen to the audio version of this blog post.)

(otherwise, click the arrow below to listen to the audio)