Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church
1. Know the Word
As an explorer journeys through the vast forests and the uninhabited territories with expectation and delight, so the man of God endeavors to journey through the Word of God so as to know the Truth. A man of God not just wants to know the truths of the Word of God but he wants to commune with the God of the Word. Every man of God longs for more of God and He is found in the Word. To commune with God, one reads the Word. Every godly man must pursue the diligent and daily priority of being in the Word of God.
2. Meditate on the Word
As a child gathers all of his toys at the early part of the day so he can have plenty of items to play with throughout the day, so the man of God wants to be in the Word and impress the Word upon his heart and mind so that it will stick with him and affect his heart throughout the entirety of the day. As an animal chews the cud, so the man of God chews on the Word. As someone puts gasoline in the automobile, so the believer must fill himself with the Scriptures. To meditate means that one fills and consumes himself with truth. It permeates and saturates him.
3. Obey the Word
A godly man zealously pursues the Word but it is far more than just intellectual knowledge or rote memorization. Every man of God yearns to apply the Word; that is, to be a doer of the Word. Knowledge without obedience is but more logs to make hell hotter. More exposure to truth without repentance, faith, and obedience is like a businessman knowing all that he must do while standing at the door of his office and refusing to put any of it to practice. He will quickly be cast out, terminated, and gone. So it is with the wicked. But every man of God says with the psalmist that he will keep the righteous ordinances from God (Ps 119.106).
4. Prioritize the Word
A godly man prioritizes the Word more than anything else. Before conversing with men, the Godly man consumes his heart with God and His Word. Before working in the fields, the man of God will worship as he fellowships with the Triune God. Nothing so satisfies the heart of a godly man than opening the Book, reading it, seeing God in Christ, and being drawn and invited to worship! Like a delightful fruit tree, the man of God must quickly approach it to get the fruits so as to enjoy the sweetness and delightfulness in partaking of it. A man of God daily prioritizes the Word. Indeed, man cannot live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Deut 8.3).
5. Confide in the Word
In a life full of troubles and in a world pummeled by sorrows, the man of God applies the balm of the Word to the wounds of his heart. There is nothing that so comforts the godly man than the precious ointment and beauty of Christ and His gospel. The man of God confides himself in the Word. He hides in it. He trusts in it. He stands fully and constantly upon it. The only foundation that he has to stand upon in the shaky ground of this world is the solid Rock of Christ as revealed in the Word of God. The godly man receives comfort, joy and solace even in the most torrential of times when he comes to the Word and rests in the arms of the Great Comforter.
