Articles/Bulletins
A Chipmunk's Life
WINDSTREAM MAIL
A Chipmunk's Life
A chipmunk's life consists mainly of storing up food and trying to avoid being eaten. The cheeks of a chipmunk can hold six or more acorns at a time. These are taken to underground storage rooms and deposited as an insurance to make it through the winter. Adding to the constant need to store up food is the constant danger from the multitude of animals and hawks that prey on chipmunks. And yet they survive. There is much that Christians can learn from these little fellows. We are called to be watchful and alert for anything that would pose a threat to our faith, and we are instructed to store up the word of God in our hearts. The study of scripture has diminished in our generation. We seem to value experience over education, feelings over substance. If a church makes us feel good or feel "spiritual" we flock to it, but if a church challenges us to know and inculcate scripture we flee it to avoid the discipline it imposes. Careful study and memorization is hard work. But the fruit it yields is sweet. If the word of God is stored up in our hearts we will find its presence a tremendous help in times of distress. A verse that has been inculcated into our minds and all but forgotten will reappear when it is needed to comfort and strengthen. But make no mistake, the goal is not to know scripture, but to know the God that scripture reveals. The majesty, glory, holiness, sovereignty, and justice of God becomes clear to us and treasured by us when the word of God takes up residence within us. What we ought to be as well as what we are not comes into focus when scripture is ingested and stored in the recesses of our hearts. The Holy Spirit pulls out from what we have stored in our hearts exactly what we need at the time we need it. There are lots of things we can store up within us, and what we store up will determine to a large degree what kind of persons we turn out to be. What we put into our hearts will ultimately have eternal consequences. = John
