10Aug
God's Word
As I look back over the last ten years of my life and back to that moment when I memorized Psalm 138:8, “The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; Your love, O Lord, endures forever, do not abandon the works of Your hands.” (NIV ’83) I’m reminded of one thing that remained constant throughout those years: God’s word. As I was pursuing various career paths, jobs, classes, businesses, and relationships, one thing remained the same: God, His enduring love, and the faithfulness of His word and His promises.
In the midst of all we go through and all we encounter in life, God has given us the unshakable and unchangeable truth of His word. God’s word is truth that endures forever because by His very nature, God is eternal and unchangeable. Jesus said: “Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away” (Matt 24:35, NIV) The apostle Peter quoted Isaiah:
“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
(1 Peter 1:24-25a, NIV)
I’m learning that saving faith, faith that can face any life circumstance that may come has specific content. That content is God’s word. There is no other content worthy of our trust. No other book has stood the test of time, been confirmed by historical facts, or has changed so many lives as the Bible. As the angel Gabriel stated to Mary when he foretold Jesus’ miraculous birth: “for no word from God will ever fail.” (Luke 1:37, NIV)
Not only did God’s word cause all things to exist (Genesis 1, Psalm 33:6, Hebrews 11:3) but God’s word is what actively sustains us in every moment. “[The Son]… sustains all things by His powerful word…” (Hebrews 1:3, NIV) and “…in Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17b, NIV).
The capstone of all God’s word to us is the incarnation of The Word, the life of Jesus Christ on earth. Many people speculate about what God would be like if He walked among us in human form. This is exactly what He did for us when He came to earth as Jesus Christ! John testifies that “[t]he Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, NIV)
We can stake our lives on and build our lives on God’s word. That is the purpose of the Keywi™ project: to give Christians a practical method to commit to memory, assimilate, and apply God’s word to our hearts, minds, and lives.
In order to press onward towards maturity, I know I must live a life above my changing emotions, thoughts, and circumstances. I refuse to live by what I feel, sense, or think. I choose to live by what I know. This is truly living by faith! There are specific, unchangeable truths from God’s word that I know are true always, regardless of anything I may encounter in life. I deeply desire that stability and rock-solid faith. As I press into committing to memory key spiritual truths, my faith grows stronger and I am better able to handle life’s ups and downs.
How about you? Will you endeavor to live by faith, to live by what you know from the specific content of God’s word? Or will you forever be tossed to and fro with every fear, doubt, or worry that comes your way? I urge you to make the commitment today to know, meditate, and stand on the solid ground of God’s truth.