The Bible - an important item in my life.

How important is the Bible to you?  Why?

image source: http://www.lambsongs.co.nz/Activities%20Bible/Bible%20Love.jpg

The Bible is an important item in my life is because it is God’s Word.  We can know more about God and what He wants, likes and doesn't like by reading the Bible. It also teaches us how to live a life that is pleasing to God.

I know the importance of God’s Word and I have personally been blessed by God’s Word and thus I have dedicated all my available time in the teaching ministry trying to bless others with God’s Word.

How has the God's Word blessed me?

II Timothy 3:16 talks about the power of God’s Word. It says that His Word is profitable

• for teaching,
• for reproof,
• for correction,
• for training in righteousness

and that man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work (II Timothy3: 16 – 17).

There is yet another verse that I would for us to take a look today and it is:

Hebrew 4:12

¹² For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

¹² 神 的 道 是 活 潑 的 ， 是 有 功 效 的 ， 比 一 切 兩 刃 的 劍 更 快 ， 甚 至 魂 與 靈 ， 骨 節 與 骨 髓 ， 都 能 刺 入 、 剖 開 ， 連 心 中 的 思 念 和 主 意 都 能 辨 明

In this verse God’s Word is described as “living” and “active” or in Chinese “活 潑” and “有 功 效” and sharper. Original Greek text is “zaō” for living and “energēs” for active.  The English translation of living is closer to the original mean and for active the original text is translated as effective in other places in the Bible so I think in this case the Chinese translation "有 功 效"is closer to the original text. Effective God’s Word being effective is self explanatory in the immediate text of Hebrews 4:12.  God’s Word is able to touch our soul as well as the spirit and is to provide a measuring stick for our thoughts and intentions.  And also in II Tim 2:16-17 God’s word is also profitable to us.

Living

How is God’s Word alive? Have you seen God’s Word move or grow?   

My interruption of God's work is that it is alive and has the ability to interact with us.  Often times we say that the Holy Spirit uses God’s Word to prompt us.  Yet, this still does not explain what God’s Word to be living.

To me, God’s Word is very much alive and is able to interact with us.  God’s Word has the ability to give us insight and conviction. It can comfort us and it can give us confirmation.  Have you heard about missionaries saying “Oh, I read this verse and this became my calling to the ministry”?

The very first time I experienced God’s Word talking directly to me is when I had a relationship problem and I was feeling lost and sad.  In the school library, I was reading Psalms 34 and when I read Psalms 34:9 “O fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him, there is no want”.  It was just like Jesus was standing next to me telling me with an assuring tone that He will deliver me.  I did not feel lost nor sad anymore. There were two things that I realized.  The first was that the Bible is not just information written in the form of a book. It is filled with inspiration from God.  When I read Psalms 34:9, it was like a person speaking to me.  The second thing was that God’s Word has the power to heal, in this case, my emotions.  It was like taking cough medicine and my coughing stopped.

From that day on, I looked at God’s Word in a whole new way. The Bible is not just filled with rules that we need to follow, nor is it simply a storybook detailing events of the past.  God’s Word is a living Word that speaks to us.

There is another way to look at God’s Word as living.  In the New Testaments there are 2 Greek words that are translated to English as “word”.  These 2 Greek words are:

1. rhema
2. logos

When we look up the meaning of these 2 words we can see that “rhema” refers to the spoken word and “logos” refers to the written word.  I believe the following verse best illustrates the usage of these 2 Greek words:

² in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. ³ And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; ⁴ as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, ... (Luke 3: 2 - 4)

While the original meaning of these two Greek words is universally accepted, there are different views about “rhema and logos.”  Some say that the spoken word (rhema) is more important and others say that these two words are the same and are interchangeable.

I believe that one is not superior over the other when they are used in the Bible because every word in the Bible has its purpose.

In the context of Bible Study, Sunday school or preaching, we need rhema - We need God to speak to us.  Again, God’s word is living and is able to speak to us.

Someone who has impacted my life greatly is Dr. Timothy Lin, who often says “Turn the objective truth into a subjective blessing”. This is more than just drawing application points from the Bible.

The objective truth is what is written in the Bible and will be the same for everyone.

The subjective blessing is how God speaks and convicts our heart and sometimes changes our lives in a personal way.

With God speaking to me, I am blessed by studying, practicing and teaching the Bible just like Ezra in the book of Ezra 7: 10 "For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel."

 

The Bible is important to me because it is able to give me conviction, comfort, calling  and in some case give me direction in life.