This week, Vonnie is hosting Monday Manna, so be sure to pop over to My Back Door and read the other entries, and link up if you want to participate.
No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. Deuteronomy 30:14
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I read through my Bible every year. It's something I have done every year but one since I got saved in 1999. I generally use one of those "Bible in a year" schedules - usually three to four chapters a day will do it. I tend to change Bible versions every year or so, to keep it different and to give me different perspectives on the message.
During several years of the past dozen, I have helped out in AWANA, a Bible club that encourages kids to memorize scripture. In fact, I worked my way through a couple of the elementary-level books myself, so I have quite a few verses memorized. And, of course, helping my kids memorize their sections for AWANA is helping plant more verses in my own heart. I'd say I have decent amount of God's Word in my memory.
But that isn't enough. Reading God's Word, and memorizing it, are wonderful disciplines, but they are worthless in and of themselves. We are not to memorize and read his Word to impress our friends and neighbors, or to brag about on our blogs, but THAT WE MAY OBEY IT.
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. James 1:23-24
Yes, it is important to have the word near us - in our mouths and in our hearts. But if we do not take the next step and obey it, we might as well have not read it at all.
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Thanks for reading! Be sure to stop by Vonnie's blog for more Monday Manna.
Paving Rough Roads With God's Presence
You bring out some important points Joanne. We're not to just be puffed up with the knowledge of God's Word but it should be a part of our actions.
ReplyDeletethe Word is what made the difference for me...freeing me from the lies that had been so much a part of my life...
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ReplyDeleteThis is so true, Jo. It seems, though, the more we read and memorize, the more we do change. The Word of God is definitely living and active!
ReplyDeleteAgreed. My particular Bible verse memory peeve- is when it's spouted only to back up one person's opinion and it's not always (okay, usually) grounded in God's opinion (or rather, many times, it's an incomplete picture). If we subject ourselves, obediently, to what we're taking into our hearts- then we're a lot less likely to regurgitate solely for the sake of ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI am always in awe of those of you who can gobble up the whole Bible in a year- I guess I'm just a slow eater :)
I do read the Bible cover to cover - but it does take me a few years. It is worth the effort! I also read it other ways, and you are so right - none of that matters if first, we don't take it to heart for ourselves, as proven by obeying it.
ReplyDeleteI like your emphasis on obedience. Obviously, that's the bottom line for all of us -and the hardest thing to accomplish.
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