Your Relationship to the Word of God
What is your relationship to the Word of God? To help clarify the question, ponder the possibilities. Other possibilities could be added, but this will serves as a starter kit.
1. Oppose it. According to some, the Scripture is nothing more than superstition. Furthermore, it misleads people and, therefore, must be exposed for what it is—myth.
2. Reject it. Having decided that the Bible is not a Word from God, some reject it. They do not attack it or oppose it. They rejected it and seek an explanation for life and death somewhere else.
3. Pervert it. Who would pervert the Word of God? Cults.
4. Respect it. Most in America respect the Bible. It is recognized as the ‘Good Book” and even as great literature.
5. Read it. Many pride themselves for the fact that they read the Bible regularly. With pride they proclaim, “I have read the Bible all the way through every year for twenty years” (or more).
6. Learn it. If you learn the content of the Bible, you will have knowledge. How is that for saying the obvious? Knowledge of the Bible is helpful, but, in and of itself, it is not the objective. It can also be harmful. Paul says, “Knowledge puffs up” (1 Cor. 8:1).
7. Absorb it. God’s purpose in giving us His Word is to change us. Paul told Timothy that the Scripture is “able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15) and adds, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). In short, the purpose of the Bible is to give us the good news of salvation and bring us to spiritual maturity.
For that to happen, we must first believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins and arose from the dead and must trust Him for the gift of eternal life. Then, we must absorb the message of the Word of God to determine the will of God for our lives. The process of absorption involves meditation (Ps. 1:2), faith (Heb. 4:2), and obedience (Jn. 14:21, 23). It is when we meditate on, believe, and obey the Word that the Holy Spirit uses it to transform us (2 Cor. 3:18). The test of absorption is transformation (Rom. 12:2). Until we are being transformed by the Word, we do not have the relationship to it God intends.
To determine your relationship to the Bible, do not look at the time you have logged reading it or even how much many verses you have memorized. Ask yourself, “How has it transformed my life?”
If you accept the most important message of the Bible and trust Jesus Christ, you will be given the gift of eternal life. If you are transformed by its message, you will end up spiritually mature in this life and rewarded in the next.
© G. Michael Cocoris, 7/31/2006
1. Oppose it. According to some, the Scripture is nothing more than superstition. Furthermore, it misleads people and, therefore, must be exposed for what it is—myth.
2. Reject it. Having decided that the Bible is not a Word from God, some reject it. They do not attack it or oppose it. They rejected it and seek an explanation for life and death somewhere else.
3. Pervert it. Who would pervert the Word of God? Cults.
4. Respect it. Most in America respect the Bible. It is recognized as the ‘Good Book” and even as great literature.
5. Read it. Many pride themselves for the fact that they read the Bible regularly. With pride they proclaim, “I have read the Bible all the way through every year for twenty years” (or more).
6. Learn it. If you learn the content of the Bible, you will have knowledge. How is that for saying the obvious? Knowledge of the Bible is helpful, but, in and of itself, it is not the objective. It can also be harmful. Paul says, “Knowledge puffs up” (1 Cor. 8:1).
7. Absorb it. God’s purpose in giving us His Word is to change us. Paul told Timothy that the Scripture is “able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15) and adds, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). In short, the purpose of the Bible is to give us the good news of salvation and bring us to spiritual maturity.
For that to happen, we must first believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins and arose from the dead and must trust Him for the gift of eternal life. Then, we must absorb the message of the Word of God to determine the will of God for our lives. The process of absorption involves meditation (Ps. 1:2), faith (Heb. 4:2), and obedience (Jn. 14:21, 23). It is when we meditate on, believe, and obey the Word that the Holy Spirit uses it to transform us (2 Cor. 3:18). The test of absorption is transformation (Rom. 12:2). Until we are being transformed by the Word, we do not have the relationship to it God intends.
To determine your relationship to the Bible, do not look at the time you have logged reading it or even how much many verses you have memorized. Ask yourself, “How has it transformed my life?”
If you accept the most important message of the Bible and trust Jesus Christ, you will be given the gift of eternal life. If you are transformed by its message, you will end up spiritually mature in this life and rewarded in the next.
© G. Michael Cocoris, 7/31/2006