Happy Steeping

I just recently became a hot tea drinker. And with it, I learned a new word.

Now, to be clear, I have consumed more than my share of tea in my life. I was raised on good Southern sweet tea, of the "iced tea" variety. But I can honestly say that up until the last few months, I had maybe drank two or three cups of hot tea in my entire life. But I started trying some, for various health reasons, and though I am still not a big fan of hot drinks, it has not been as bad as I always thought it was.

I am not very handy in the kitchen, so my tea preparation doesn't involve a pot or a kettle or even a pitcher, just a simple mug. I fill it with water, heat that water in the microwave for about a minute, then drop the little bag of green tea or ginger tea in and let it sit for a while. And this is where I learned my new word.

My wife was making sure I knew how to handle such a complicated culinary task of preparing a cup of tea, and she mentioned that I should "steep" it for about 3 or 4 minutes. Admittedly, I have not had a lot of tea-focused conversations in my life, but I am embarrassed to say I had no idea what that word meant.

When I thought about it, I realized I have heard--and even used--the word before, but in a completely different context. Like, "the Master's tournament, steeped in tradition." But I never thought of what that word really meant.

So I looked it up, and saw that it means to soak, or immerse or saturate. In the case of tea, it means to soak in water so as to extract the flavor from the tea leaves. When you steep the tea bag in the hot water, it will take on the color and the taste of the tea.  And similarly, when that word makes its way into other things, like discussions of the Master's golf tournament, it speaks of being influenced by all those years of tradition it is soaked in.

In case you are wondering if there's a point to this little tea-soaked exercise in vocabulary, yes there is. It is to follow up on Sunday's message. Romans 12:2 tells us that we are "transformed by the renewing of our minds." That is, God changes the way we live by changing the way we think. And the way He re-news us is through His word.

The more we are "steeped" in Scripture on a consistent basis--so that we are immersed and saturated in it--then we absorb it into our lives and it becomes a part of us. As I said Sunday, there are simply no shortcuts to a transformed life than our intentionally soaking in God's word each day. That doesn't mean we just do our perfunctory daily Bible reading so we can check the box. It means we take time to think about it and marinate in its truth. And there's a Bible word for that too, and that is meditation.

The psalmist spelled it out so basically at the beginning of Psalm 1: "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night."

Likewise, Joshua 1:8 tells us: "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."

So, we are to make it our goal NOT to be steeped in the things of the world, but in the truth of the Word.  And that will require that we prioritize time, “day and night,” to focus our attention and soak in God's word. When we do that, He will renew our minds and change our lives.

Happy steeping to you this week. I am praying for you, as I hope you are for me, and I look forward to seeing you Sunday.  

--Pastor Ken