Head knowledge to internalization by the heart 505 - 3 - 3

Although the Church of Ephesians received high marks for adherence to His Word rather than that of the Nicolaitans, Jesus also had this to say, Revelation 2:4, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.”

I don't remember a time in my early life that I wasn't in church with the possibility of the six months I spent as a six year old in a children's convalescent hospital. I grew up in a conservative Protestant church, the First Congregational Church of my hometown. As a child I attended Sunday school and then later was in both the junior and senior choir. That said, I don't remember ever bringing a Bible to church. Rather, our minister would select a passage from the Bible and use it as a source for his homily. I would sit with the choir and pretty much daydream.

So where does my first love come from? My best friend's father was the local Baptist preacher and I spent quite a bit of time in his church. I remember answering more than one altar call and Pastor Gillette telling me that I'd already come to the Lord. Such an early and intense love of the Lord Jesus faded but never completely. After decades of falling away I’m back and seemingly insatiably hungry for the Word.

In her book Expecting to See Jesus: A Wake-Up Call for God's People Anne Graham Lotz refers to Tom Landry, former head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Coach Landry said that "the difference between a good athlete and a great one is eighteen inches — the distance from the head to the heart." Mrs. Lotz says much the same about many calling themselves Christians. Getting the head knowledge to the heart is indeed a great distance and certainly describes me, the perpetual student. Unlike the Ephesians, I have not left my first love but sometimes I overanalyze and tend to be critical of those who either reject the Word or don’t have an interest in delving into it.

The war in my life was/ is bridging the distance between my head and my heart, a battle I’m winning. I feel that my intensive study of the Word has been somewhat denigrated by some church member. I much prefer interactive small Bible studies to warming a church pew. I find that in the Bible study environment the head knowledge is more likely to be internalized than in a church setting.