People Of The Word

People of the Word

-Let the Word of Christ Dwell in your richly-

Colossians 3:16-17

Our model for Christian growth is Jesus. Jesus grew “in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” (Luke 2:52) Throughout his life Jesus sought guidance from scripture and obeyed the written Word of God (Old Testament). From early childhood through his adult ministry, Jesus made God’s Word pre-eminent in his life. At the age of 12 Jesus was in the temple sitting among the teachers, listening and asking questions.

Through out his life Jesus appealed to the Scriptures as his ultimate authority. To every question and objection to his life and ministry Jesus replied with Scriptures and no one was able to prove him wrong.

This coming year let’s make Jesus our model. Let’s become a “People of the Word.”

Why don’t more people take time to read and study God’s Word?

There may be many reasons why we make excuses for not taking time to read the Bible.

Human nature is not prone to take time for God. People are pre-occupied with other things than taking time for spiritual growth.

Spiritual growth is not a high priority with most people. It is easy to drift along and maintain life on a spiritual plateau. To grow spiritually takes too much effort.

We tend to find time to study God’s Word and pray when in times of Crisis. (After all that’s the only time we really need to pray and look to God in His Word.) Human nature as it is we all at once become zealous for spiritual things when confronted with life’s traumas.

If life’s crises push us to take time for God then we should thank God. Many people have praised and thanked God for tragedies in life because they tragedy helped their life to turn around and gave them a new start in life. They no longer take life for granted but see every day as a gift of God.

Satan is in the business of keeping people from reading God’s Word. Satan doesn’t want you to get a blessing from reading and studying God’s Word.

God does promise a blessing to all who read and obeys His Word. (Revelation 1:3) “Blessed is the one who reads the word of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written.”

Finding time to read God’s Word is a spiritual battle and spiritual warfare. Satan doesn’t want you to read God’s Word. Satan knows God wants to bless you through reading the Bible and Satan doesn’t want you to receive the blessing. Everyday you miss touching God through the Word of God is a day Satan is the winner.

We need to make a fresh commitment at the beginning of this year to become a People of the Word. No matter how many times you have failed in the past you can ask God to help you make a new commitment to develop a regular habit of reading and reflecting on His Word. Don’t allow the devil to rob you of God’s blessing. Underline Revelation 1:3 and use that verse as a reminder to read the Bible and take it to heart by acting on the teachings and applying them to your life.

You can find time to read and reflect on God’s Word. It may mean getting up a half hour earlier, or taking a half hour at lunch, or a half hour at night with less television.

There are many benefits you can receive from reading and studying the Bible.

When you read the Old Testament you are reading the same scripture Jesus read. When you read the New Testament you are reading about the Life of Christ and reflections on His life by his followers.

I’m not talking about reading the Bible just for reading sake. I’m talking about reading and reflecting on what the scripture passage is saying and asking how you can apply the truths to your life.

We benefit from reading God’s Word by seeing life from God’s perspective and not our own. (Romans 12:2 NLT) says: “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.”

God’s Word transforms us and makes us more like Jesus. John 17:17 Jesus prayed: “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” To be more like Jesus we need to fill our thoughts and life with God’s Word. (Psalm 119:9, 11 NIV) “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I have hidden your word in my heart that I night not sing against you.”