Ingesting God’s Word

For the last several days, I have been fighting a terrible earache and nasal infection; so I have taken waaayyyy too many pills for pain and congestion relief. Subsequently, my stomach has been terribly upset and on edge.

It was during this time that I saw a commercial for the yogurt, Activia. You know the one….where the lady tells you that if you will eat Activia yogurt for at least 14days in a row, then your digestive tract will achieve gastronomic nirvana….and she says it so convincingly that you want to jump up off of the couch and rush over to the store and get some….but I didn’t because I’m really not much of a yogurt guy.

Now, I know that yogurt is good for you; nutritious and packed with all those active cultures that can help regulate your digestive system; but, it seems like a lot of work to eat that stuff for 14 days to reap the full benefit….and that got me thinking.

As Christians, too often we treat God’s Holy word like yogurt….we know it’s extremely good for us; calms our spirit during stressful times, settles our nerves. It is helpful to our overall well-being in determining God’s direction for our lives….but it sure seems like a lot of work to take time from our busy lives to sit down and spend time in God’s word.

Paul spoke to young Timothy regarding this matter of spending time in God’s Holy Scriptures in 2 Timothy 3:16-17,“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”

Paul knew first-hand that the desire to live for Christ would be fraught with many trials and tribulations. He knew that a young pastor such as Timothy would not stand up well to the tests that were to come without first sitting down in a consistent and committed manner to study the infallible word of God. Paul knew there was much to be gained from spending time in God’s word….just like eating the yogurt, good things will take place in the body of the sanctified believer…By ingesting the Spirit-breathed word of God, intellectual stimulation and belief affirmation will occur (teaching); review and recalculation will take place as the believer seeks to draw closer to God (reproof/correction) and my favorite…training in righteousness…learning to be more like Jesus.

Why all this you might ask?

So we will know what we’re talking about when we encounter our culture…..competent in our faith and in our daily walk with our Lord and Savior…prepared and EQUIPPED FOR EVERY GOOD WORK that the Lord has laid before each of us.

Make this your New Year’s motto….THE MORE I GET INTO GOD’S WORD THE MORE GOD’S WORD GETS INTO ME!!!!!!

Make the resolution to start EVERY DAY by ingesting the word of God…reading a daily devotion that is scripture-based; doing a bible study of a particular book of God’s word on your own; reading and memorizing scripture from the back of a 3x5 index card; reading the Bible through in a year….or any one of a thousand ways that God leads you into opening life’s manual…THE HOLY BIBLE….the Spirit-breathed revelation of God to man.

Get the New Year off to a Great start….opening God’s Holy Word …Daily. You will be...

BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE,

WPQ