"You Look Familiar "

We have probably all heard the saying “familiarity breads contempt”. Well I would like to add another thought to that one. Contempt is not all familiarity breeds.

• Familiarity breeds comfort
• Familiarity breeds routine
• Familiarity breeds laziness

One more that you would think is true but often proves to be false is this - "Familiarity breeds insight." The truth is that familiarity usually kills insight because we think there is nothing more we can learn. We know all there is to know, so we stop looking for new insights. And consequently the result is that familiarity does not breed insight it breeds boredom. Let me illustrate.

For most husbands there are three days of the year we tend to dread. Our wife’s birthday, our anniversary and Christmas. The reason being those days mean we have to pick out a present for our wife. Well imagine early on in the marriage a young, naive husband learns that his wife loves perfume. So suddenly all of his questions about what to buy on those special days have been answered. Be it a birthday, anniversary, or Christmas he no longer has to think or interact with his wife about what to buy. He has found out all he needs to know so he can (finally) get back to the golf course. When this happens in marriage, we sometimes stop listening or paying attention and begin to miss things. (important things) We miss all the hints about a new outfit, the pictures of jewelry left lying around . We stop listening. We stop asking what they would like. Why? Because we know the answer. We stop trying to discover more about our spouse, because perfume is easy. No matter what the occasion, perfume is always the answer. Then you hear those words no husband really wants to hear “honey, we need to talk!” (a wise man will listen without a golf club in his hand.)

No where is this more evident than in our study of familiar passages of the Bible. Sometimes in our Bible reading when we get to these stories we skip over them because we already "know" them and to dig in familiar territory is needless work. What we know about that story no longer excites us and what we don’t know no longer concerns us. Consequently we stop trying to learn more, stop meditating, and stop studying. Stories like Jonah and the Whale – David and Goliath – The Cross – the Resurrection of Christ - The Christmas Story. Stories many of us have heard since we were old enough to go to Sunday School
It takes thought and concentration to get beyond the cliches and the obvious truths we have heard so many times. It means acknowledging that there is more to these stories than meets the eye.
God says that the Scriptures are alive. They are living and active they always have something to say to us. Are you bored with Bible study? Do those old stories you know so well still excite you and challenge you? Has familiarity led to complacency and boredom?
May I challenge you, maybe even today to get out your Bible and look up a story you know so well you can almost quote it. Begin to study it with a renewed desire to see what it has to say. Study it to to get below the surface and dig for fresh insight. Start looking for nuggets of truth that have been hidden because you thought you “knew the story”. Ask God to open your eyes that you might see wonderful things from His Word – insights and truths you have never discovered in all these years.
Remember these words from Proverbs, this is how we need to approach God’s word
Pro 2:1- 5 “My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.”

I remember driving down the same road year after year thinking it was the most boring stretch of road on the planet.. I’d seen it all a hundred times, I knew it like the back of my hand. Then one day I decided to walk down that same road and I noticed things that I had never seen before. When I slowed down and walked that which once seemed boring came alive with new life . Things I had never seen in all these years jumped out at me – the beauty of flowers, the aroma of the blossoms, the rustling of the leaves on the trees, the birds singing, it looked new and fresh and exciting. And all I did was slow down.
Next time you are tempted to skip over a familiar story because you know it so well - slow down - and you may find God putting his arm around you saying “FRIEND, WE NEED TO TALK”

2 Timothy 3:15 "study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed."