Referring to Scripture merely as God’s word falls short (stay with me before deciding I am a heretic). I’m asserting this according to our cultural mode of thinking. You see, we have become a culture that’s addicted to experiences over knowledge. It’s hard to escape, really. You need only review a few Instagram feeds to realize it. Even as a pursuer of knowledge to inform my understanding, I am often reminding myself that there is no textbook for personal experience.
So what more is the Bible than “God’s Word”? For starters, it’s more than a story with favorite characters. It’s more than a list of commands. And it is MUCH more than a few choice passages to be painted on a rustic board to make us feel cozy in our homes. Yes, it’s more than mere words, indeed.
You see, in addition to reading and knowing God’s word, we must aim our lives to live it. To allow it to transform us. And we cannot apply what is unknown. We apply it by living the word and allowing God’s living word to continually work in us.
Applying Biblical Virtue
I know a lot of people who book smart. I mean really book smart. They can tell you more facts than you ever care to know. These are the people who speak on favorite topics and the room is soon lacking in oxygen.
They are smart. There is no debating that. But, when the rubber meets the road, so to speak, they lack ability to put any of that knowledge into practice.
In the previous post, we defined Biblical virtue. And we also looked at the attributes of Biblical Virtue. Knowing what it is and what comprises it is well and good. But, if you know and understand it, yet lack ability or willingness to put it into practice, you are living in rebellion. For instance, to know about integrity of heart and have an ability to recognize it in others, but you insist on living a deceitful and morally corrupt life, there’s not personal transformation into the new creation that’s been promised.
But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. – James 1:22-25 NLT
Absorbing vs. Reflecting the Living Word
Many folks will sit in church one a weekly basis. They hear God’s message and it may even strike a chord with them. However, they are merely absorbers of the word. When there is no change toward living a more Godly lifestyle, one that’s not in rebellion of the Father, it leaves the Father wanting. It’s because, as James shares, truly hearing God’s word must lead to Godly action.
Also in James’ letter, he illustrates his point with an analogy of looking into a mirror and forgetting the image the moment you look away. In ancient times, mirrors were of polished metal, not glass as we know them to be today. They were nowhere near as clear a reflection as what we are accustomed to seeing. Even if they were polished many times over, the reflection was still not clear. So, while the viewer had an idea of their looks, the impression faded from memory soon after taking their eyes off the mirror.
Lord, I pray I might be a genuine reflection of you and your glory. One that is not momentary nor distorted.
Referring to Scripture as God’s word falls short in modern context. We must realize God’s Living Word is a transformational and living indwelling of the Holy Spirit. One we would do well to drink up.
The Living Word
You could read a million pages, know the words and all the phrases
You could try to turn a lie into the truth
You can live to be a hundred, memorizin’ every number
…
I don’t know the reason
Sometimes it just feels so, good to cry!
And I don’t know which way the wind will blow
But You’re here with me
And that’s All I Need To Know!– Thousand Foot Krutch – All I Need to Know.
We have said and heard it said that God’s word is the living word. I doubt we’ve given a lot of thought to it. I bet most of us take it to mean it is always relevant no matter our life circumstance. But consider for the moment that the Holy Spirit uses scripture to dwell inside you and transform your existence.
To illustrate this, I share that I’ve recently become smitten with kombucha and the art of brewing kombucha. It’s a fermented sweet tea that carbonates itself and has a bit of a vinegar flavor. It is often further fermented with the addition of fruits and also infused with other flavorings.
Many can’t hack the taste. Some will say it’s an acquired taste. Yet, there are legions of loyal kombucha drinkers and brewers that call it a life changer. What I find really fun about this elixir, though, is the presence of probiotics. These organisms are cultivated by a symbiotic colony (or culture) of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY). The bacteria and yeast produce the bubbles and flavor while also producing a new SCOBY with every batch, and is thus, a self-perpetuating, symbiotic, culture.
The Indwelling Holy Spirit…
When consuming kombucha, the living organisms (probiotics) enter your body and live inside you (stimulating health benefits from within the gut). I like to think of the drinking of kombucha as a devouring of Scripture and consuming the Holy Spirit, the nutrients from which entwine within my soul, making me a more vibrant creation. Who could doubt the impact and power of such an elixir?
“True Christianity is about receiving what God Has done for us and His Spirit coming inside us to have an ongoing relationship with us. He is God… our job is to get out of the way and let Him live through us.” (Max Davis – When Jesus Was a Green-Eyed Brunette, 28).
In the next post, we’ll discuss that concept in more detail.