You are what you eat. Haven’t we all heard that? Our moms would say that when we go to sneak that cookie? Or the Doctor might chide us with something similar when we go for a checkup. You ever think about that in regards to what we read? What we “feed”our minds with? Today let’s look at a man who was afraid to read the Bible because of what it might do to him.

Now, let’s get to know a little about this fellow. A priest, a reformer, a writer, a preacher, and a father. He studied to learn Greek and Latin, but wouldn’t pick up the Bible to put to practice what he learned because he thought it would change him. You see Menno Simons had a pretty comfortable life being a priest and reaping the monetary and physical rewards from working in the church. That was more to his liking than the duty of study the Bible. He remained that way for many years until two things had a direct impact on his life.

One was this; was Transubstantiation Biblical? Followed by two; his brother Pieter’s martyrdom for his newfound faith and baptism. So let’s break this down one by one. First, Transubstantiation was, and is, the belief in the Catholic Church that during the Lord’s Supper the cup and the bread become the blood and body of Christ before it enters the recipient’s mouth. Something that is not seen in Scripture. The believers coming out of the Anabaptist Reformation believed that this Sacrament is emblematic of The body and blood of Jesus Christ, not literally. This stark contradiction between current Church teaching and Bible teaching were to much for Menno and he started a very in depth study of the Bible that went into infant baptism, government participation (due to the Münster situation), and a pure church of saved and baptized believers. After this study he finally concluded he had to leave the priesthood, which he did in January of 1536.

So back to the main point, Menno now knew all the answers to these doctrinal questions, and others, could be found in the pages of Scripture. And just like watching a child learn to read their first story book; Menno took off with the excitement and abandon for learning that a child displays. From excommunication, to denying worldly pleasure (asceticisim), nonresistant, and the Incarnation of Christ; Menno took it all to scripture and scripture alone (Sola Scriptura again). He wasn’t afraid to read the Bible, or study on it. Having been baptized as a believer somewhere around the beginning of 1536, he went all in for God and His Word and never looked back.

So again we are what we eat. If you eat healthy fruits and vegetables with your meats, you have less to worry about than if you ate sugars and junk foods. So if we want to be vibrant and strong, full and overflowing, then we have to be in The Word. Not just a few minutes for personal devotions, but actually studying it, absorbing it, thinking on it then applying it! We cannot be a healthy follower of Christ if we don’t even want to eat His bread. Like Menno found out, he couldn’t live that vibrant and fulfilling life for God until he surrendered to Him and was in His Word. Let’s read Menno’s own words on what he found in God’s Word:

“For true evangelical faith is of such a nature that it cannot lie dormant; but manifests itself in all righteousness and works of love; it dies unto flesh and blood; destroys all forbidden lusts and desires; cordially seeks, serves and fears God; clothes the naked; feeds the hungry; consoles the afflicted; shelters the miserable; aids and consoles all the oppressed; returns good for evil; serves those that injure it; prays for those that persecute it; teaches, admonishes and reproves with the Word of the Lord; seeks that which is lost; binds up that which is wounded; heals that which is diseased and saves that which is sound. The persecution, suffering and anxiety which befalls it for the sake of the truth of the Lord, is to it a glorious joy and consolation.”

These things were not from Menno’s mind, instead these are all teaching found in Scripture! When we read and study on it, only then can we, with authority, stand and proclaim these truths! So let’s ask God for His wisdom as we all get into His Word in these dark days.