The Word Is Alive

One of the reasons I like reading the Bible from beginning to end is the continuity of the story but for me, reading this way helps bring it to life.

In Hebrews 4:12, we are told the word of God is living and active. As I read through the Bible I am able to see how God reveals Himself to His people; how He cares for them, instructs them, disciplins them; how faithful God is even when His people are not; how mighty and strong God is; how loving and tender God is; how God HATES sin but loves people - to the point of sacrificing His own Son to pay the penalty for sin for all mankind.

I read a lot. All kinds of books, fiction and non-fiction, but the Bible is the most fascinating book I ever read. I read it over and over and every time God shows me something different, something I have not seen before. Or perhaps I've read a familiar verse many times but this time God shows me a new insight. Of course, a lot of what I get out of my reading depends on where I am in my walk with God. The longer I walk with Him and the more I desire to get closer to Him, the more He shows me, the more He teaches me.

The Bible is my personal invitation from God to get to know Him in very personal ways. So I read it - not every day like I should - but 5 or 6 days a week. Sometimes it's in the morning, sometimes at night. I read it because I want to see "what will happen next", not just in the story I am reading but in my own life. Some days I have to make myself put it down because I have other things I need to do - like work or sleep or laundry or grocery shopping or something.

However, all of this an exercise in futility if I don't DO what it says. If I don't love or give or worship or repent or anything else that God pricks my heart with, then it's just another book to me. Reading to read is not the purpose; knowing and doing God's will as He reveals it to me from His word is the purpose.