Two great quotes to help encourage us toward a life consumed with and conformed to the Word…
We are a people of the Book. We know God through the Book. We meet Christ in the Book. We see the cross in the Book. Our faith and love are kindled by the glorious truths of the Book. We have tasted the divine majesty of the Word and are persuaded that the Book is God’s inspired and infallible written revelation. Therefore, what the Book teaches matters…
There is no salvation from sin and guilt and condemnation and hell apart from faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; Romans 10:13-17; 1 John 5:12). And there is no other authority besides the Scriptures to show you who Christ is and to give you his Word. So don’t leave the Bible, children. Don’t leave the Bible, young people. Don’t neglect the Bible, dads and moms. Don’t ignore the Bible, single people. Under God, the “sacred writings,” the Scriptures, are the greatest treasure in the world. They alone make us wise unto salvation through Christ. O don’t neglect this Book!
“I think you live in a day and age where there’s great teaching available all over the place. So you never really learn to feed yourself. You’d rather live vicariously through other people’s studies. Which is kind of sad because you’ll never love the Lord like the people who studied that, found that and wrestled with that will love Him.
Like if I started talking about all of the reasons I loved Lauren, it wouldn’t make you love Lauren. It would make you maybe go, “Oh, I wish I had that.” But it wouldn’t make you go, “You know, I love her too. She’s amazing. I love her with my whole heart right now.” That’s not how it works. In the same way, you hearing me or some other guy talk about the grandeur and might of God is not necessarily going to make you love Him.
You need to read and let the Holy Spirit engage you, chisel at you, work you over. May we repent of our laziness.”
I HIGHLY recommend listening to the entire message that the Matt Chandler quote is from. Britten linked it. It’s “The Authoritative Word” from a series called “The Path” that the Village Church went through in the fall of 2009. A verse that has been transforming me lately is 2 Corinthians 3:18 “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
The Word transforms us by allowing us to behold God. We can’t get this through sermons, books, and commentaries. We’ve gotta wrestle with the text. This is convicting. I don’t want to come to the end of my life and have piggy-backing off of someone else’s thoughts of God my entire life. I want to know Him as much as I possibly can…this comes from His Word…I’m not hating on good teaching and books! Those are good too! But, the Word has to be central for us.
Comment by Ashley Benson — July 30, 2010 @ 8:17 am