As I was thinking about the conference this morning, I was pondering what it means to be truly thirsty. I can recall times in my life when I was so parched I thought I would die if I didn't get something to drink. And then another thought hit me. God's Word defies the laws of economics!
I'm guessing you probably don't see the connection there, so allow me to explain. (You knew I was going to anyway.) I teach high school Economics and there is an economic law called THE LAW OF DIMINISHING MARGINAL UTILITY. To illustrate this example, I often tell the story of "The Best Orange Soda Ever!" See, when I was younger, my parents signed me up for tennis lessons at Midland College. Little did they know what a waste of money that was going to be. Tennis was clearly NOT my forte but that's not the point here. So one particularly hot day after my lesson, I decided to go into the gift shop and buy a drink. I ordered an orange soda (I was in that "water is so boring" stage of life). To this day I can remember how absolutely delicious that bubbly, orange drink was and how quickly it went down. I immediately ordered another and then...you guessed it, another. Three Sunkists later, my mom was there to pick me up and I was ready to vomit. What had tasted so good and quenched my thirst in the beginning, was now of little use to me.
That seemingly pointless story actually sums up the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility pretty well. The law states that as consumers purchase more of an economic product within a given time period, each additional unit becomes less and less useful to them. As I tell my kiddos, that's why no matter how great the sale, consumers will only buy so much of a certain product.
Now, back to the connection to God's Word. As I said, I was contemplating the concept of thirsting for God and thinking about how the Bible and time spent with Him can quench that longing. However, unlike orange soda, the usefulness of God's word never diminishes in my life. Amazing!
Oddly enough, I just happened to be reading from Hebrews 4 this morning and I found a verse that I think explains why this is the case. Unlike material possessions, "...the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints, and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart." Well, given that my ideas and thoughts are numerous and ever-changing, I can see how God's word is constantly useful to me.
I recognize that there will be seasons when I struggle to stay committed to reading my Bible but my prayer for myself and my other rebels is that we will never fail to recognize it's vital importance in our lives and that God will make us continually thirsty for only Him.
I'm guessing you probably don't see the connection there, so allow me to explain. (You knew I was going to anyway.) I teach high school Economics and there is an economic law called THE LAW OF DIMINISHING MARGINAL UTILITY. To illustrate this example, I often tell the story of "The Best Orange Soda Ever!" See, when I was younger, my parents signed me up for tennis lessons at Midland College. Little did they know what a waste of money that was going to be. Tennis was clearly NOT my forte but that's not the point here. So one particularly hot day after my lesson, I decided to go into the gift shop and buy a drink. I ordered an orange soda (I was in that "water is so boring" stage of life). To this day I can remember how absolutely delicious that bubbly, orange drink was and how quickly it went down. I immediately ordered another and then...you guessed it, another. Three Sunkists later, my mom was there to pick me up and I was ready to vomit. What had tasted so good and quenched my thirst in the beginning, was now of little use to me.
That seemingly pointless story actually sums up the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility pretty well. The law states that as consumers purchase more of an economic product within a given time period, each additional unit becomes less and less useful to them. As I tell my kiddos, that's why no matter how great the sale, consumers will only buy so much of a certain product.
Now, back to the connection to God's Word. As I said, I was contemplating the concept of thirsting for God and thinking about how the Bible and time spent with Him can quench that longing. However, unlike orange soda, the usefulness of God's word never diminishes in my life. Amazing!
Oddly enough, I just happened to be reading from Hebrews 4 this morning and I found a verse that I think explains why this is the case. Unlike material possessions, "...the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints, and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart." Well, given that my ideas and thoughts are numerous and ever-changing, I can see how God's word is constantly useful to me.
I recognize that there will be seasons when I struggle to stay committed to reading my Bible but my prayer for myself and my other rebels is that we will never fail to recognize it's vital importance in our lives and that God will make us continually thirsty for only Him.
