God's Word is Important

John Piper: "Nothing apart from God himself is more important and powerful than his word."

If this statement by one of my new favorite authors is true, then how can we be so flippant in our treatment of God's word? How can we possibly justify the disregard for certain plain words/commands or the principles it teaches? Yet at the same time we cling to the grace so freely spoken of so we can make it to heaven?

God's word is a special gift that we've been given. In this country we take this gift for granted so often because we have so much of it so available. In other countries, however,the bible is actually outlawed and people risk imprisonment and/or beatings just to own a portion of the Word of God.

I recently read in the Randy Alcorn book, Safely Home (great book!), about a woman in China who so revered the scriptures that she saved the box the bible came in and stored her treasures in it. She valued the BOX that had contained God's word because it had contained God's word!!!

Do we really understand who we are and who God is??? CAN we understand and still treat His word with disrespect? I do not think so. There are accounts in the Old Testament of the Israelites standing all day with their children to listen to the scriptures being read. The LORD commanded Joshua to meditate on His word day and night, the Psalmist in Psalm 1 says the man who does this is blessed. David says over and over in Psalm 119 how he treasures the words of God. In the New Testament, Timothy is told to study the scriptures, bishops are to know the scriptures and use them. Timothy's mother and grandmother were commended for teaching Timothy the scriptures from childhood. We are told that the sword of the Spirit is God's word and that it is quick, powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword--a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart! Quick means living...Jesus is the word made flesh, the Word of life.

Knowing this how can we edit it, manipulate it, change it, cast a shadow over it, etc. to suit our desires or just disregard it altogether in lieu of our own "wisdom"? I don't know which is worse because it is all based in the exaltation of SELF. We have no wisdom apart from Christ, and we have nothing eternal or temporal to offer anyone outside what can be found in God's word. Would we be like Jehoiakim and take a penknife to the word or burn it because we don't like the message? We certainly don't have to literally do these things to have the same effect in our hearts and the hearts of our listeners.

I submit that if we truly understood our utter WOE-fullness then we would agree with what the Lord has to say to the Israelites in Ezekiel 36:31-32, "Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations....be ashamed and confounded for your own ways".

If what my all time favorite author says about His own Word is true (and it is) then shouldn't we be treating it with the respect that HIS Word deserves?

I would just like to say "Thank You" to the men out there who would rightly divide the word of truth so that their hearers have opportunity to hear the true gospel. To those who don't, Paul says, May you be accursed.