Back to the Basics

I see it often: many believers will let the "Word of the Day," a devotional reading, a meme, or a sermon be their only connection to God throughout the week. As a minister and preacher, I take exception to this: the Word of God needs to be the daily bread by which the believer is nourished. Jesus, who would often go to a desolate place to be alone with God, knew the word intimately. It informed every single part of His life. Everything He did was a fulfillment of the Word of God; He was obedient fully to it, and so was human as humanity was designed to be originally by our creator. It's when we begin to deviate from the plan, when we seek to do things on our own terms, to have "Jesus and" the world, that we begin that slow, comfortable path that leads us away from the truth. If we dive in to God's word, God tells us exactly what the Scriptures mean for us: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 -All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Psalm 119:105 -Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Joshua 1:8 -This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. And this is just 3 examples! So what does this mean for us? How should we respond to the challenge of being in God's word? We should get back to the basics! As Jesus' temptation tells us, even Satan knows enough of the Scriptures to attempt to deceive those who are unprepared (Matthew 4, Luke 4). We need to be intimate with God's word, as Paul says: Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17), and "Do not be conformed to the patter of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that by testing you may know what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect" (Romans 12:2). God is waiting, but we have to get back to the basics. Hebrews 4:11-13 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.