The Blazing Center

I’m a sucker for tips. I love reading articles with titles like “50 Ways to Make Your Life Better Without Even Getting Off the Couch”. If you write a blog post entitled “7 Secrets For a Successful Garden”, I’m all over it. And I hate gardening.

I can get sucked into “Christian Tips” as well. “Five Ways to Dive Deep In Prayer”, “Three Ways To Get Your Holiness on In 2K9″, etc. Some of these articles really are valuable. Some are fluff.

But here’s the thing: my spiritual growth in 2009 isn’t going to be the result of finding the right tip list. Growth is the result of prayerfully wielding the word of God.

I don’t need to scavenge the Internet for tips on overcoming pride. I need to burn Isaiah 66:2 into my brain:

But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

When pride surges in my heart I pull out the sword of God’s word and cry out, “Lord, help me be humble! Your word tells me that you look to the humble. Right now I’m proud. Forgive me and help me!” My pride is skewered by the word of God.

I don’t need “Quick Tips for Beating Anger”. I need James 4:1-2 emblazoned on my heart:

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder.

“Lord I feel so angry with my spouse right now! Your word tells me that it’s because I’m not getting what I crave. Show me what I’m craving and help me repent.”

I want to grow this year, don’t you? Will you wield the Word? It takes work. There’s no shortcuts. It’s brutal at times. But the result is the sweet fruit of godliness. Let’s make 2009 the year of the Word, not tips.