The RenewaNation Review 2014 Volume 6 Issue 2 | Page 44
119:105. He confesses, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and
a light to my path.” Let me ask you, “Do you like walking
around in the dark?” I sure don’t. Without being in the
Word on a regular basis, we are in effect, walking around in
the dark. And it is no surprise that we might not be doing
that great of a job managing what the Owner has entrusted
to us, if we are not regularly reviewing the directions from
His Managers’ Training Manual.
So, for us, isn’t the beginning of getting started in reading
the Bible on a daily basis more about heart change than it is
a schedule change?
We need to be STUDENTS of His Word.
three times from the book of Deuteronomy. Now, here is
the problem for many believers today: The overwhelming
majority of believers have never even read Deuteronomy.
Many may have trouble even finding it in their Bible and
few if any, have even one verse of Deuteronomy commit-
ted to memory. So when tempted as Christ was tempted to
follow the ways of the world, we, unlike Him, are completely
unarmed to resist these temptations because we do not have
His Word committed to memory.
My point is this, if we want to be successful in navigating
our way through the countless enticements of living in this
tempting, materialistic world, we better have a host of Scrip-
ture committed to memory that can anchor us to the Owner
and His directives. Treasuring His word in our hearts will
keep us from wandering away by staying focused on being
good and faithful managers.
It is a good thing to read the Word on a regular basis, but we
also need to dig deeper and become students of the Word.
Paul encouraged Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15 to, “Study to
show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
I would hope all of us would be like the
Bereans in Acts 17:11 who “were of more noble
"Research shows that
character than the Thessalonians, for they received
of all professing Christians have even read
the message with great eagerness and examined the
through the entire Bible once in their lifetime."
Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was
true.” They weren’t just reading the Book; they
were studying it.
The insights that I share with you in my Life Stewardship
So, exactly how do we get directions from the Owner
studies have not come from simply reading the Word, they
regarding what He wants us to do with all that He has
have come from studying it deeply and meditating on it for
entrusted to us? The first way is to be continuously reading
years. Are you willing to become not just a reader, but a
His Word, studying His Word, and memorizing His Word
student of the Owner’s Manual?
and then most importantly, we need to be equally commit-
LESS THAN 10%
We need to be MEMORIZERS of His Word.
We not only need to get the Word of God in our head, we
also need to get it in our hearts. I love what David says in
Psalm 119:11, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I
may not sin against You.” The internalized/memorized word
may be the single best deterrent I know of to prevent us
from becoming careless, sloppy, and disobedient stewards.
Let me give you an example of what I am saying here.
Do you remember when Jesus was in the wilderness being
tempted by Satan? On three different occasions, Satan tried
to tempt Him to betray His Father and His mission. On all
three occasions, Jesus rebuffed Satan’s temptation by quoting
from the Word of God. What you may not know is that all
three of the Scriptures He quoted were from the same book
of the Bible. Do you know what book it was? He quoted
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ted to obeying it. Are you ready to become an expert in the
directions given in the Owner’s Manual?
© 2014 Stewardship Ministries | All Rights Reserved.
Editor’s Note: This article is part one of a three-part series.
Subsequent articles will appear in future issues.
E. G. “Jay” Link is the Chief Steward of Stewardship Minis-
tries, a comprehensive discipleship ministry to pastors, their
churches, and individual believers to equip them in how to
effectively live the life of a good and faithful steward of all God
has entrusted to them. He is the author of four books, Who’s in
Charge Here, Spiritual Thoughts on Material Things: Thirty Days
of Food for Thought, To Whom Much is Given: Navigating the
Ten Life Dilemmas Affluent Christians Face, and Family Wealth
Counseling: Getting to the Heart of the Matter. He may be reached via email at
[email protected].