meditatio at the water's edge

A great deal of emphasis in recent years has been placed on the idea of "How do I apply the scriptures (usually one particular verse or passage) to my life?" It has been suggested to me, though not precisely in these terms, that this is a bit of a wrong-headed question. The question we should be asking ourselves is this: "How do I apply my life to the scriptures?"

My friend John West has been putting this question out there and someone responded by wondering what the difference between those two questions is. Is there a difference? I believe there is, but it requires us to look at what lies behind the questions to see the distinction.

Here's where I see the difference: The first question ("How do I apply the scriptures to my life?") suggests that I am here to make up things as I go along, using the scriptures for advice as I compose my own story, whereas the second question ("How do I apply my life to the scriptures?") suggests that the story is there to interpret me and call me to live in it. Yeah, that clears things up...right. Okay, how about this: I think the first question is initially self-centered (how can I use the scriptures in my story?), and the second question is initially self-examining (how am I to live in God's story?).

I am not saying we shouldn't be sharing with each other about how we can apply the scriptures to our lives (in the sense that our lives should be conformed to God's direction). I guess what I'm saying is that we need to begin elsewhere. We need to begin by getting over the idea that everything is about us ("me") and by getting into the idea that everything is about God and God's great big plan to make every broken person and thing whole again. Maybe when we get over ourselves we can get into cooperating with what God is up to all around us.

It really does matter what questions we ask.