Filed under: Messenger
By Linda Barber
Someone sent me one of those “cute things children say” e-mails recently and I enjoyed each story, but with eight grandchildren, I have quite a collection from my own family. For example, the other day Jack had been in trouble several times before lunch, so at story time I assured him that, though I didn’t always like the things he did, I always loved him. He answered, “Oh Gramma, I know you love me more than anyone except Jesus.” I considered explaining that I love all my grandchildren, but settled for saying I was rather fond of his grampa too, and he thought that was okay.
In February we tend to think a lot about love with all the Valentine hype, and it is a good thing to take the time to tell others that we really care for and about them, but we really should be showing our love daily and telling people how important they are to us more than once or twice a year. I am a terrible correspondent. I am always meaning to write a note or even an e-mail; sometimes I plan the whole thing in my head while I am doing something else and I may even start, but it rarely actually gets done.
I am glad that the men who put God’s Word on paper were more disciplined than that. What if Paul had not take the time to dictate all those letters which apply the teachings of the Lord to everyday living? What if Luke had been too busy listening to all the testimonies of the apostles to take the time to write down in an orderly fashion the story of Christ’s birth and life? What if John had tired of writing before he finished recording the vision God gave him of the end times? We may struggle with the meaning of God’s Word and we may wonder why certain things were included and others conspicuously left out, but we have God’s assurance that everything we need to know to be His faithful and obedient servants is there, and we have the Holy Spirit to open our minds to understand His truth and give us strength to follow where it leads. It is all there because when He put it on the hearts of His servants to write things down, they obeyed, and He saw to it that what was written was preserved for us to read, inwardly digest, and apply to our daily circumstances.
Lent is the perfect time to develop a habit of daily Bible reading if you aren’t already doing that or perhaps expand your study and include quiet time actually thinking about what you’ve read. You could look up some of those notations in the margin that tell you other places in the Bible that talk about the same thing, and if you have a study Bible, read the notes at the bottom of the page instead of skipping over them. Sometimes it is more important to reread a passage several times that it is to accomplish a set amount of reading in a day. If we are truly “in the Word,” we can’t be lukewarm about any of our relationships, especially with Jesus.
Lord, thank You for the gift of your Word. Help me to stand firm in it in all my relationships and to be disciplined in my study so that I can know You better and grow in my faith. Help me to be more like You. Amen.
