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Wednesday, 23 April 2008
The Word of God
  How often do you read the Bible simply because you believe it is the Word of God? Sometimes you may feel that reading the Bible is your duty or your obligation. Sometimes you feel it is a chore. Sometimes you are guilted into reading your Bible by your Youth Pastor (well…I hope that’s not the feeling you get!). But how often do we sit down to read the Words of our God just because we believe they are just that…the written, revealed Words of God!?!King David says “How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalms 119:103) and “The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.” (Psalms 119:160). Is that our emotion? Is that our feeling about the Word? If yes…seize every opportunity to eat the sweet Words of God! Be eager to get a hold of it and allow it to get a hold of you!! If not…pray and ask that God will give you a desire “for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,” (1 Peter 2:2). Did you catch that? Consuming the Word of God is the means by which we grow in regards to our salvation! Not noticing any growth? Noticing your spiritual desire is almost going sour? Pray and consume the Word because by it you will grow. This question was asked at the Do Hard Things conference in North Carolina (a reminder to those who are going to the Portland conference - be here Saturday May 3rd at 6:30am at the church!). The question was asked of who were attending the conference and they had an electronic way to immediately answer. The results were as follows: How often do you read the Bible just because you believe it is God’s Word? Never = 18% Once in a while = 48% Often = 34% The number which surprised me was the “once in a while” response. This is not an evangelism conference! This is a conference of predominantly Christian teens and families and yet almost half the response was only “once in a while”. This was shocking to me! I would have never guessed that their collective (and openly honest) opinion of the Bible and its impact on our lives was so low that almost half the people in the room only pick it up once in a while just because they believe it is God’s very word to us! Ya, they might read it out of duty or pressure or guilt…but only now and then do they read it as the words of Almighty God given to us by His kindness and love and grace! May we cultivate a desire and a hunger for the precious Word in our families and teens! May the Word of God be…“more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold (Psalms 19:10); or in the NIV (Nathan’s Inspired Version), “more desirable than American Idol, yes than many American Idol re-runs”. May the Word be “sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb”; or again in the NIV, “sweeter also than the sweetest YouTube video and the drippings of the Internet”. Let’s be hungry and let’s eat of what is truly satisfying - The Word! Pastor Nathan Posted on 1:33 PM by Pastor Nathan
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