Come and see why - by Ben Bonython
Love for the Word
A few weeks ago Pastor Barry Silverback shared a few thoughts on Jesus and that Jesus is the living Word. Jesus and the Word are one and the same. Living in Jesus means to live in His Word. John 1:1 says ‘in the beginning the Word already existed, the Word was with God and the Word was God.’
In verse 14, speaking of Jesus coming into our world, it says ‘so the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. We have seen His glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son.’
Unfailing love and faithfulness is often translated as grace and truth. And unfailing love and faithfulness and grace and truth are always associated with our Lord. John is is very clearly showing us that Jesus is God and that the Word of God is the same as God and that Jesus is the Word. What does this mean?
There is something life giving about the practice of the daily bread of the Lord. The practice creates for us a regular, deliberate and methodical process by which our heart and our minds are affected and impacted by Jesus. And what makes this process so necessary is that as we take in the living Word, our hearts are opened to respond. For example, we might ask ourselves some questions after reading the Word.
What was our hearts reaction? What did our heart welcome? What did our heart reject or struggle with? What did our heart put off?
An important step is the daily application of the Word into our hearts and honest evaluation of our own hearts response.
We need a daily process for the daily bread to work in our lives. James 1:22 says to be doers of the Word and not just hearers otherwise we deceive ourselves. To follow Jesus is to follow His Words.
Therefore the Word has to be applied to our hearts. Our faith response to the Word requires an obedience to His calling upon us and a desire to implement the Word within our lives. His Word becomes the very fabric of our lives.
Made in the image of God, we have been created to walk in the Word of the Lord. A healthy balanced life is dependent on the daily bread of God at work in our hearts.
When this process breaks down or is left aside for some time, we can become vulnerable the many unnecessary attacks of the enemy and distractions of this world. And as time passes, it can become easier for us to not walk in God’s ways. When we miss the daily application of the Word upon our hearts, other compromising attitudes and thoughts enter our heart.
Jesus says in John 15:7 that we must abide in Him in order that His Word may abide in us.
The position of the Word of God therefore is designed to be alive and active in us. The Word of God is to be living in our hearts because Jesus and his Word are the same.
One of the most profound applications of the Word of God is how we pray. When we come to the Lord in prayer, we are called to forgive others because God has forgiven us. The application of the Word means that we bring those matters that hurt us before Him and in the process, we gain His peace and help. So in faithful expectation and preparation, may our hearts desire and prayer be towards living in the daily bread of the Word.
May we not ignore but in faithful expectation, allow the Word to sustain our hearts, and follow Jesus.
This is why we can invite people to come and see why we love our Church family! Jesus says in John 13:35 that our love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.
May our Church be a place of love. May we love the gathering of the people of God. May it be proved to the world that we are disciples because of this radical love. May we invite others to come and see and know this love. May we invite others to taste the daily bread of the Word, and grow in Christ.
May we invite others saying - I Love my church –come and see why!