Several times in the past
three weeks I’ve found myself talking with fellow pastors about the importance
of feeding the inner man.
The subject has arisen as we
have discussed the importance of the pastor’s personal and spiritual life in
ministry. It’s not come up out of a morbid fascination with ourselves, but with
the sober recognition that we won’t be able to help others if we ourselves are
inwardly empty. A thriving relationship with Christ is essential to being able
to minister for Christ.
For all its importance, it’s
easy to neglect our inner life and bury ourselves in the activities of our
calling. If those activities appear “religious” we can easily fool ourselves and
others too that all is well. But it soon shows. Honest pastors and Christians know
when there is a hunger in their hearts that is not being fed, a thirst that is
not being quenched. And they know that only Christ through his Spirit can
satisfy that inner need.
The apostle Paul clearly
recognized the importance of making inner renewal a daily practice. Writing in
his second letter to the Corinthians he says, “Therefore, we do not lose heart.
Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2
Corinthians 4:16). The apostle is writing in a context of deep and
persistent suffering on account of the gospel. Outwardly he has every reason to
be discouraged and throw in the towel. But he doesn’t do that because, by the
grace of God, he is daily being renewed inwardly.
Paul doesn’t tell us what that
involved. One could get the impression from the way he writes that he is
passive in the process – that this inner renewal is something that just happens
to him. But given what he says elsewhere, especially to Timothy (1 Timothy 4:
13-16; 2 Timothy 1:6, 7; 2:15), it’s hard to separate this inner renewing from
the disciplines of study and meditation and prayer. These things, along with
other bodily disciplines (1 Corinthians 9:27) were part of the “training to be
godly” (1 Timothy 4:7) that Paul maintained. So while we can say that this
inner renewing was the result of God’s grace, it is also safe to say that it
regularly involved Paul’s activity as well. There was something he had to do;
it wasn’t all done for him.
Equally clearly, this inner
renewal in Paul was more than the rote performance of regular activities. There
is a vast difference between performing a spiritual discipline (like reading
five chapters of the Bible each day, for example) and having the inner man fed.
When Paul speaks of the “inner man” (see Ephesians 3:16; Romans 7:22) he is
referring to that complex of mind and heart and spirit that make up the inner
centre of our lives. To have this renewed or fed is to have it nourished,
strengthened, satisfied, enlarged, or reinvigorated. It happens as our minds
and hearts are ministered to by the Holy Spirit through his truth. As he makes
his Word alive and full of power within us it produces comfort and joy and
conviction. It leaves us stronger in faith, love and hope than we were before. That’s
the key not only to effective ministry but to persevering Christian living. In
a world in which we struggle through hardship, temptation, opposition, sickness
and so on, we can only endure as we, like Paul, experience this inner renewing
– daily!!!
Different people find
different means help them in this. While the same basic process is involved in
each case – the heart being nourished by the Word of truth – different means
and contexts benefit different people more than others. Bible reading and study
is the first and basic way the Spirit brings his empowering Word to our hearts.
But there are some people who find that it is not so much their personal
reading that helps them as it is listening to others explain and apply the
Bible (be that in live sermons or through videos, tapes, etc.). Others still
find themselves nourished as they talk to others about what they have read or
hear.
I personally find myself
helped most by books. Typically I incorporate a brief period of meditative
study as part of my morning devotions. Currently I’m working my way slowly
through a book on spiritual disciplines. I don’t try to read too much each day.
What is more important than the number of pages I scan is discerning the Holy
Spirit at work applying truth to my heart.
When I sense my heart being fed I stop, think, pray, and often write
about what I have been learning. In that way, I find myself strengthened to go
into the day.
Whatever means you find
helpful, include it in your daily “training to be godly.” Discover how God has
made you, what means he commonly uses to feed you, and make it a regular part
of your life.