The Word of God in my Living Room
a great treasure in a leather bound book
Today’s post comes from an idea that I had that I wrote down a few weeks ago. The idea that the Holy Bible is the Word of God, and that very word rests on my living room bookshelf.
The Word in my living room. An interesting thought is that the God of the universe has given mankind his own Word. He has spoken and he has further enabled us to write it down through the hands of men. And now we have a collection of 66 books that we call the Bible. The word Bible is in and of itself nothing special, it comes from the Latin word biblia meaning “book.” However, what makes this particular book so special? Is it the adjective before the word “bible” written on the front of our books? A Holy Bible definitely carries with it some more gravity and presumes some special meaning or use. I think here lies the great indicator, “Holy” means “dedicated or consecrated to God” which for the Bible means that this book is dedicated to God.
This consecrated book lies in my living room. Indeed, I have several Bibles in my house, different versions and styles of them, New Testaments, ESV, NKJV, and even a Geneva Bible. Interestingly, there are so many forms of the Bible when the source for all of them is the same (meaning God is the source). But this is not the point I want to make today. My thoughts have strayed more to the realm of the weight of words and what it means to believe in those words.
I often speak to my counselees about the definition of belief. I would say something like this: “It is not enough merely to say that you believe in something, belief is acting on something as if it is true.” A person can say that they are an astronaut but unless they are trained and going to space they really are not an astronaut. I would give these examples because they would tell me that they believe in God or that they believe in what the Bible says but they do not act as if those things are true to them. I usually talk to them about what it means to truly believe in God and all that his Son, Jesus, has done.
Mainly, we learn about this through reading the Bible and listening to others (attending church or studies). But the personal reading is what I want to focus on here and now. The God of the universe from before the beginning of time has planned that he would give us his Word so that we may know him. This very word, the very fulfillment of his plan, sits on my nightstand or lies on my desk. To me, sometimes, that is unbelievable! And tragically, I often do not consider the weight of that fact. I recently read God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew, which is a story about a Dutch man who smuggled Bibles into communist countries, and I was blown away by the reactions people would have upon receiving those precious Bibles. Oh, how I want to treasure mine the same way. And even more recently I read The Hiding Place a story about a Dutch woman named Corrie Ten Boom in WWII and how she eventually ended up in prison then in Ravensbruck, a concentration camp. She had a smuggled bible which she and her sister read to other prisoners. Oh, how she treasured those precious words! I want to be like that and you want to be like that. I wonder if these people ever looked at the Bible the same way after their experiences?
And yet, I have several Bibles, granted I live in a much different place and time than they do, but does that change the value of the words on these pages? The very word of God is in my living room! Indeed, these words are life as it says within its own pages.
“Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
May I be like Peter, to recognize that Jesus has the words of Life? I have been reading the Bible nearly my whole life and I feel as though only recently I have truly loved those words. Over the past several years these words have truly changed me, and for that, I love God all the more. And even now there are times when I do not act as if I love those words. At times it is just another book, though I do not want it to be. Thankfully, when the words are from God, written for us, I know that they will not go away, nor will they become obsolete. Those words are a wellspring of life, able to instruct and direct in any circumstance. May I treasure it as such a thing.
The Bible is a deep well, which I can draw endlessly from. I go back, again and again, to be refreshed, to live, to learn, and to love my God. It is amazing to me how many sermons, commentaries, bible studies, and books have been written about the contents of the Bible. It makes sense when you know that an infinite God has given those words to us. As 2 Timothy 3.16 states:
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,"
Training takes time, and I want to be a professional. To know my Bible, and to know the God who authored it. I am thankful that these words rest in my living room, and may I never tire of seeing it there, or picking it up and flipping through their pages. To learn of humanity and divinity. Of man and God. It truly is an amazing book. I hope that you can see the Bible in the same eyes as the men and women that I have mentioned. I want certainly want to be like them.
We have a wonderfully detailed, truth-filled, book at our fingertips. It is a treasure, a wealth of knowledge, and a tool of wisdom. Let us learn from it and live it out. Let us believe what we have read and be changed by it. As John the Apostle wrote:
“but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
May we all treasure these precious words that we have in our living rooms.