Loving

Hearing introduces the promises and commandments of God into our lives and receiving them is how we make them our own.  In this part of our series from Psalm 119 on hearing, receiving, loving and obeying God's instructions we will talk about loving God's word.

Have you ever thought about the things you love and why you love them?  Do the possessions you love last for a long time?  As I got to thinking about this post, I realized that loving things is very different than loving people.  Loving people is based on relationship variables that arise from each of us having free choice but loving an inanimate object is based strictly on the value we assign to the item.

               Your testimonies are wonderful [far exceeding anything conceived by man]; therefore my [penitent] self keeps them [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them].
                              Psalm 119:125 Amplified

We were created to live in relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  It is hard to have a relationship with someone you don't know personally and the only way we can know God is to know Christ.  The Bible tells us that Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:14).  That means knowing the word through hearing and receiving it is how we get to know Jesus.  It is through our life experiences that we learn the value and privilege of knowing Him.

The words in our Bible are more than just letters on a piece of paper. They are alive and active and sharper than a doubled edged sword (Hebrews 4:12).  These words are the only physical form of Jesus Christ we have on earth today.  Jesus is the Word of God.  The only way to God, the Father, is through Christ, the Son, and the only way to know Christ is to know your Bible.  

Our relationship with Jesus cannot grow and mature apart from us purposefully choosing to spend time reading our Bibles and applying it our our everyday life.  Apart from God, apart from knowing the Word, we can do nothing (John 15:5).  If we are going to have the promises of God manifest in our life, then we not only have to know the Word, we have to live it.  

The power of God is displayed in our lives when we appreciate how priceless God's word is. There are stages we all go through in our walk with God, Jesus referred to them as different types of soil (see Mark 4:1-7).  Our relationship with God and Jesus grows through a process similar to the Parable of the Sower.  When we first heard the Word, we may have rejected all or part of it based on the kind of home we grew up in and the things we believed to be true at the time.  Even though the seeds may appear to be dead and have to be replanted several times and they grow up each time to face new obstacles like birds, rocks, drought, and weeds, the power within them remains and multiplies with every exposure until suddenly one day we look back and we can see the very hand of God has been at work in our lives the whole time.  It is then that we come to the full realization of how powerful and dynamic the word of God is and it changes our relationship with Jesus (the Bible) from an obligation to a priceless gift that we cannot live without.  

This is how love for God and His Word matures. Through the experiences of life we learn of the faithfulness of God and His amazing grace that keeps us ever safe in His arms.  Through the word of God, we prove to ourselves that not only does God really exist but that He loves us completely and passionately like no one else can.   

The word of God is not only the foundation of our life, it is our greatest weapon.

Heidirn