Marinade and the Bible

As you look at this picture, you may be wondering what a bottle of marinade and the Holy Bible have in common.  Well, a lot more than I ever realized.  For a marinade to fully saturate something, there are four things that must occur.  It must get in, get under, get through, and get transformed.  For us to become transformed to be more like Christ, we too must be marinated, or immersed, in God's Word.

First, get in.  Before something can be completely marinated, the first thing is that it must be put into the marinade.  The same holds true for us an the scripture too.  Once we accept Christ as our savior, God gives us the Holy Spirit to help us understand the Bible more clearly (1 Corinthians 2:14-15).  We begin to see God's presence and impact on our daily lives.  And we start to see that all the stories in the Bible are more than just Sunday school lessons we learned as children, they are stories about out spiritual family tree. 

Second, get under.  For something to get the most impact out of the marinade, it must be completely under it.  The same is true for us.  It's been said that we cannot understand scripture until we stand under it.  This basically means that we cannot allow our hearts to "stand above" scripture.  We can't pick and choose what we like or don't like in the Bible.  We must "stand under" scripture and allow our hearts to be changed by God's Word, not leave us wanting to change it.  Instead of just reading scripture, we must let it read us.  Hebrews 4:12 reads, "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, or joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."  When we choose to stand above scripture, we begin to believe lies about ourselves rather than what God says about us in His Word.

Third, get through.  Over time, a marinade begins to work its way through the meat soaking in it.  We need to be allowing God's Word to work its way through us.  Reading through the entire Bible in a year is beneficial, and was actually what got me into regularly reading God's Word, but sometimes we need to focus more on one passage of biblical truth.  It may take a few days or even a couple weeks for that passage to really start working through us and changing us.  As you study and immerse yourself in a passage, let it soak all the way into you.

Lastly, get transformed.  Just like a marinade tenderizes and transforms anything that soaks in it for a while, God's Word transforms any person who immerses their entire life in it.  The amazing thing about scripture is that unlike marinade which after a point reaches its limit, there is no limit to the transforming power of God's Word in our lives.

That marinade won't do anything sitting in the cabinet just like our Bible won't do anything sitting on the nightstand.  Even opening the bottle won't cause drastic change.  Likewise, we should not expect deep transformation merely by opening the Bible.  But if we will immerse ourselves in God's Word as our savior and example Jesus Christ did, then we will have our lives transformed into the life that God has designed for us.