Drawing What We need From Christ

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you.
John 15:7

When a mother nurses her baby it's an experience of intimacy. The baby's not only getting milk, but drawing close to its mother in the warmth of a loving relationship.
We could say that the baby is feeding relationally as well as nutritionally.
This is what Jesus meant when He said, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you."
Too many of us view the Bible as a library of information to be studied. And Bible study is important. But when you feed on God's Word with the desire of getting to know the person behind the page, it changes everything.

You can read the big words in a medical book, but when you're sick you want a doctor there to tell you what those words mean and what it will take to make you well.
When you're hungry it's nice to have a menu to choose from. But what you want is a waiter standing there to tell you what's in the various meals and what he has tasted and found to be good from the menu.
In other words, you want to relate to someone who embodies the information you are receiving. That's because the goal of medical treatment is health, not being able to pronounce the big words of your illness. And the goal of going to a restaurant is a meal, not the menu.

When your goal in Bible reading moves from information to personal intimacy ("Lord, what are You saying specifically to me?"), especially during times of Spiritual need, you are on the road to maturity.