In order to grow together, we must first commit to continually strengthen our relationship with God. As Christians, we believe that our relationship with God is the most important aspect of our lives, but we often struggle with doubts, uncertainty, or feelings of distance. We wonder if something someone said about God is correct. We wonder if a decision we have to make aligns with the will of God. We even sometimes wonder if we truly love God or if God really loves us.
Where can we find the answers to these questions that we have? Our relationship with God can be strengthened in many ways, but the most important way is by His word.
What do we do when we want to get to know someone? If we see someone whom we find interesting, we immediately want to engage and interact with them. We go and ask them questions about their interests, their background, their dreams. We allow them to share with us who they are. But if we were to say, “I don’t know much about this person, but I would like to,” yet we never interacted with them ever again, that would seem to indicate we were never really interested in the first place.
It is the same with our relationship with God. God has revealed Himself through the Scriptures because as 2 Timothy 3:16 states, “ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (New International Version).
God has miraculously and sovereignly led the authors of the books of the Bible to write the words we now see on its pages. Not only does it reveal the good news of Jesus Christ to the world, but it also reveals God’s character, what He likes and dislikes, and His will for us.
What does Scripture say is God’s will for our lives? In 1 Thessalonians 4:3, Paul specifically tells the church of Thessalonica, and thus the Church of God from the beginning to the end of time, that “this is the will of God, your sanctification,” to live our lives in obedience to Him (English Standard Version) And how are we to be sanctified? By the word of God.
Jesus himself declared this truth as He prayed to the Father on behalf of the church before His crucifixion. He asked the Father to sanctify those the Father had given Him (His flock, the Church) “in the truth” for God’s “word is truth” (John 17:17). Jesus continues to pray to the Father saying, “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” (ESV John 17: 17-19).
Clearly, Jesus is saying that God’s word is the truth which will sanctify those God has set apart as His children, His church, and His Kingdom. Even more amazing is that the word of God says that Jesus is the word of God!
The Gospel of John declares that “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1: 1-5).
So not only is Jesus the Word made flesh, but He also was there with God in the beginning, indicating that God has always been the same from the beginning of time and will be the same until the end of time. Unlike humanity who is ever-changing, unreliable, and untrustworthy, God can be wholly and completely depended upon and trusted with every doubt, emotion, trial, and question.
Therefore, as we seek to know Him more, we do not ever have to wonder if what He likes will change. We do not ever have to wonder if His plans will change. And we do not ever have to doubt if what He has said in the past is still true today.
As Donald Whitney expresses in his book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, “none of this eternally essential information can be found anywhere else except the Bible. Therefore, if we would know God and be godly, we must know the Word of God-intimately” (Whitney 23)
But, if we never choose to spend time in His word, we are essentially declaring that we are not as interested in deepening our relationship with God as we once imagined. For as Whitney asks us, how can we live “by every word that comes from the mouth of God” if we have never read “every word that comes from the mouth of God?” (27).
For this reason, commit this week to finding a time every day that you can spend reading and studying the word of God. If this is not a regular habit for you, it may prove difficult at first, but God promises to equip you for every good work. As you seek to live in obedience to His commands, He can and will give you the strength to follow Him. Not only will He give you the strength to daily read His word, but He also promises to renew your mind and your heart by His word. This means that you will begin to find joy and peace as you seek Him daily through His word. It will no longer be something you have to do, but something you desire to do.
Since we are human, of course there will be days where we do not feel like pursuing God and His word, but if we pray asking Him to help us through the days where we have no motivation, He will be there with us in every moment.
By beginning a steady habit of reading God’s word, in the moments where we don’t feel like pursuing God, the discipline of reading His word will sustain us through those dry seasons.
And in the end after reading His word, even if we still do not feel refreshed or rejuvenated, God promises that His word will never return void. It will always fulfill the purpose God has for it. It is NEVER wasted.
For this reason, we hope you are encouraged to pursue God and to know His word. For by knowing the word of God, we can know Him better. And by knowing Him better, we can grow together as the body of Christ.
We hope you will return next week for some practical ways to encourage our love for the word of God and strengthen the discipline of filling our minds, hearts, and souls with scripture.
Sources:
Whitney, Donald S. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. Revised and Updated ed.,
NavPress, 2014.
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