Hungry for the Word of God But Dissatisfied With How You've Been Fed


 

After so many years of doing ministry, I have learned something that never stops surprising me: people are most responsive when they finally get to learn how to actually read the Bible. Not read about it. Not read around it. Read it — as it is, for what the living word of God wants to say to them.

But here is one of the more frustrating moments in teaching the Bible: when those who have been heavily indoctrinated by bad theology.

All of us read any texts through lenses. That's simply how reading works — nobody comes to a page neutral. Therefore, if you are wearing the wrong lenses, just like any texts, you will be confused; unable to understand them. When someone has already been shaped by bad theology, they struggle to read the Bible as it is. The broken lens gets in the way of the light. So before anything else, before real growth can happen, real nourishment from the Bible, those who join me have to go through a process of sanctification. Only then can they begin to read the Word of God as it is. And without exception, they are far more satisfied once they've been through that process of cleansing. Unfortunately, not all would stay through it. Those who stay will enjoy the reward of it.

The Chef, the Poison, and the Palate

Imagine someone whose body has been deeply conditioned — even intoxicated — by bad food for years. Processed. Over-salted. Full of artificial flavoring. Their palate has adjusted to it. It's what they know as "flavor."

Now put real food in front of them. Food made by a chef who doesn't cut corners. Michelin star chefs. No artificial flavoring, just the best ingredients, prepared with the kind of technique that draws out what was already there — the essence of the ingredient itself, nothing added, nothing hiding it.

And what happens? Often, those who are conditioned by bad food, can't taste it. Worse, they criticize the chef. They call the food bland. Confusing. Not what they expected. They walk away from the finest food they've ever been offered because their tongue has been trained by something artificial to expect something artificial.

This is exactly what happens with Bible study.

When I feed people the Word as it actually is — not seasoned with someone's agenda, not sweetened with a system built to make them feel good, not covered in the artificial flavoring of bad theology — some of them can't taste the word of God as it is. They can't even accept it. Some, honestly, get hostile toward it. Not because the Word is bland - tasteless and unappealing. Because their palate has been poisoned, and the real thing tastes bad to them.

Detox Before the Feast

That's why sanctification has to come first. It's the detox. It's the cleansing. It's giving the palate time to recover so the person can taste what was always there in the text — the sweetness of the original ingredients, untouched. Sanctification by catechism, prayers, and discipleship.

I've seen it happen recently, and it has moved me. People in my group who once resisted, almost walked away, once couldn't stomach the living Word of God — I'm watching them change. They come hungry now. They read the Bible in chunks, and they want more. They're tasting all its flavors — the weight of it, the comfort of it, the conviction of it. And most of all, they're being nourished. I'm watching them grow more convicted about being faithful to God, because they finally tasted the thing for themselves.

What a Chef Wants

No good chef wants to be praised for hiding the ingredients. A good chef doesn't want you to compliment the sauce that's covering up cheap meat. A good chef wants to serve food that is both true to what it is and genuinely nourishing — and then watch you enjoy it, and watch it feed you.

That's what I want when I open the Bible with people. Not a performance. Not a system dressed up to taste good going down. Just the Word, prepared with care, served as it is — trusting that the One who wrote it knew exactly what His people needed to be nourished.

If you've been fed bad theology for a long time, you might not trust the Bible when you finally see it plain. You might even resist it at first. That's normal. Detox always feels strange before it feels good.

When you get to taste the word of God as it is, your life will change.

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