Happy New Year Source Community!
We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and that you were able to look to and lean on Christ amidst the busy holiday season. We want to start off thanking you all for your support this past year, we have learned so much already and have appreciated the feedback being given by our community at Source!
If you haven’t already noticed, we have redirected our vision here at Source in order to focus more on growing a strong community of Christian homemakers, mothers, wives, etc. with an emphasis on practical theology and food tips! With Anna’s unique culinary experience and both of our more recent interests in ancestral cooking and baking, we want to incorporate these passions into the overall mission of building a community on Instagram.
We also have announced our collaboration with Will Spencer, founder of The Renaissance of Men, and are fulfilling his apparel orders through our website. Will’s primary focus and mission is restoring Biblical masculinity, as well as its relationship with Biblical femininity. We wholeheartedly believe in Will’s mission and vision and are so excited to be working with him! Please check out his website linked above!
Anna and I both listened to a podcast recently by Michael Foster that was extremely convicting and inspired us to not just post about it on our Instagram, but talk about it in this blog because we believe it to be very important for this upcoming year! I (Julia) was feeling very motivated by everyone’s 2023 “read” book lists and also their 2024 book list goals. I realized that my habit of reading nightly had assumed a subsidiary role this past year once my first baby came. With that being said, I spent the last few days trying to come up with an extensive list and I began to feel a little overwhelmed but knew that I could make time for it. But after listening to Michael’s podcast, I felt a very strong sting of conviction regarding these 2024 goals.
I began to reflect on this previous year and realized something that is so much more important that I have set aside… As a “new” mom, I acknowledge that it can be really easy to put very important things like reading our Bible aside... I tend to listen to many theological podcasts throughout the day and excuse that as the only time I need to have throughout my day with the Lord… But He convicted my heart on my lackadaisical and apathetic attitude towards my spending time with Him this past year. Mind you, I have definitely learned a lot this year and have grown significantly in my walk with the Lord. But I believe a lot of that has to do with the new challenges of motherhood and marriage, rather than my devotion to prayer and meditation.
A few key points from Michael Foster’s podcast:
Genesis 3:6 “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
In Matthew Henry’s commentary he notes: “See here how the desire of unnecessary knowledge, under the mistaken notion of wisdom, proves hurtful and destructive to many. our first parents, who knew so much, did not know this-that they knew enough.”
“I think men, especially younger men, lack the concept of unnecessary knowledge. Within many of them, there is an unending and insatiable desire to know, to be in the know and often to be known by what they know. So many of them are prolific when it comes to their consumption of content. They read lots of books, they listen to lots of podcasts, they watch lots of streams, they scroll a lot on social media. It is as if the mastery of theological facts in them of themselves make them wise, but in reality this is only a self delusion... the great irony is that they largely don’t put to use that which they actually know…
Wise men become wise by applying knowledge, often under the guidance of wiser men. they do something with the knowledge. What is the first step to doing something with knowledge? Meditation.”
A few verses emphasizing meditating on God's Word:
Psalm 1:2
Psalm 63:6
Psalm 77:12
Psalm 119:27
Philippians 4:8
While this podcast by Pastor Foster was aimed toward men as his primary audience, there is much to learn from his wisdom! We often fall into the trap of thinking we are wise because of all the information we have gleaned from the world and the knowledge of the world. Even theological knowledge, while good in itself, can give us a false sense of wisdom if we are simply leaning on our understanding or the ideas that appeal to us emotionally. We were both greatly convicted by Episode 4 of This is Foster called “Becoming Wise” and highly recommend listening to it! Linked: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-is-foster/id1511566280?i=1000638918182
Let us seek to spend time in silence, actually meditating and thinking on God’s word. Allowing it to penetrate both mind and heart, and grow us in grace, knowledge, and wisdom ❤️
Of course, none of this means that we shouldn’t read books, listen to podcasts, stream sermons, etc. But these things should be in addition to our daily reading of and meditation on God’s Word. We love podcasts and sermons and have been greatly blessed by them! The challenge here is to depend first on God’s word as truly sufficient for us to grow in wisdom, Godliness, grace, sanctification, and faith. Prayer is hard! Meditation on His Word is hard! By His Grace we can grow in these spiritual things, ultimately for the purpose of glorifying Him and growing in relationship with Him. God Bless!