2003-07-21 - God's Word

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

To the naked eye, it looks like a fleck of tile decorated with the Greek letters alpha and omega. But magnified by a factor of 600 it the world's most portable copy of the New Testament. According to the latest version of Guinness Book of World Records, the 5-millimeter-square tablet is the smallest reproduction yet of a printed book. It was created in 2001 by two scientists in the field of object recognition, Pawan Sinha and Pamela R. Lipson of Cambridge, Mass., who call it a tool for archiving and authentication, The New York Times reports. They developed software that allowed them to write in gold on a crystalline silicon chip, using a font with letters each 4 microns high...about the height of a red blood cell.

Such an item has little practical use, but we should all know the significance of the use of Scripture in our daily lives. "For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart," Hebrews 4:12. We could easily multiply verses here which say similar things, but the question I would really like to address is if we live like we believe these things? Do we live our lives as if God's Word is living and active? Do we live as if His Word is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart?

It is crucial that we do. It is true that the Spirit is able to move and work in our hearts also, but it seems that it is often the Word of God that the Spirit uses to work in us. We must be students of God's Word. We must be diligent readers of His Word and take the time to develop the discipline of meditating on it. I don't think that I am exaggerating at all when I make the statement that reading, meditating and memorizing God's Word will change your life. It is also equally true that ignoring God's Word or failing to read and study It will also change your life.

Lastly, I would like to emphasize the importance of prayer when we read and study God's Word. Prayer is an essential aspect of any study of the Bible. In prayer we exercise that gift of communion with God as we study His letter to us. In prayer we acknowledge our dependence upon Him in our understanding and grasping of God's Word. Prayer is a discipline that is important to any aspect of our Christian lives, and that very much includes understanding God's Word.

Wherever you are in your walk with Christ you can always exercise that gift of reading and seeking to understand His Word. God's Word will not mock you at how well you grasp what it is saying. God's Word will never laugh at your understanding of theology or even how well you apply what it says to your life. God's Word is ever there for interaction with you. You can read It at 3 AM or 3 PM. It doesn't matter. God's Word is always available and we are foolish when we fail to take advantage of studying It and learning of It's contents.

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

tim@cfdevotionals.org
http://www.cfdevotionals.org
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