Daily Honor to the Word of God | Print |  E-mail

TheWordThe Bible - the beloved and best-selling, yet at the same time, most feared and maligned book in all of history.  Such extreme reactions!  I wonder if maybe there's something to this book!  Why else would the saints of God give their lives to defend it and the enemies of God fight so hard to wipe it out?  Some might go so far as to call this phenomenon supernatural.  Then there's the Bible's own testimony about itself.  You know, living and active, able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart, worthy of meditation day and night, a guaranteed path to true success. Those would be some pretty arrogant self-claims...if they weren't true.  There's also the testimony of saints down through the ages who attest to the Bible's power to transform the heart and the course of history.  Pretty powerful stuff, this Bible. 

But there it sits, maybe not actually dusty on the committed Christian's shelf, but so under-employed in comparison to its value - put aside all too often because so many other urgent matters crowd it out.  I've read that one of the major causes of business failure is the ineffective employment of assets.  Could it be that a large part of the spiritual bankruptcy we see around us, and sometimes even in us, is the ineffective way we employ this most valuable of assets? 

Based on Scriptural promises, let's imagine what could be true if we would but simply give the Word of God the place it deserves in our lives.  Imagine the blessing, holiness, power from God, purity, guidance, and the fruit of the Spirit that could work in us and through us!  In a nutshell, this is what the Psalmist describes as "prospering in whatever you do."

Okay, we all get that, but what can we do to increase the influence of the word of God in our lives?  There are many ways, and I'll bet you already know them!  Read through the Bible from cover to cover in a set amount of time.  Journal your thoughts and insights while focusing on a book or passage.  Read the Bible in conjunction with other resources, for example a commentary or spiritual formation book. 

Or...commit verses or passages to memory!  This is possibly the most elusive spiritual practice for many of us, but it is also one of the most effective tools we have in our spiritual development toolbox. Psalm 119:1-11 implies that there is special value in storing up the word of God in our hearts for blessing, purity, and righteousness.  As we endeavor to be truly transformed by Scripture, there's something especially powerful about the way Scripture memory can cause the word of God to sink deeply into our hearts and minds. In light of the Scriptural injunction to allow the Word of Christ to dwell richly in our hearts (Col. 3:16), let`s ask God to give us a renewed passion for reading, studying and memorizing His precious message to us. (S. Baughn)