The Bible : List of Rules or Living Word ?

Thursday January 20, 2022

They despised the word of the Lord, and what wisdom have they ? Jeremiah 8. 9

(Jesus said) : The words I spoke to you are spirit and life. John 6. 63

The Bible : List of Rules or Living Word ?

In the book of Isaiah, God rebukes his people for their attitude toward his Word. It should have been for them a precious word "on their heart" (Deuteronomy 6.6). It had become a tedious routine, a set of rules and prescriptions disconnected from the intention of the One who spoke to them with love (Isaiah 28:13).

How sad to see these men thus transforming the word of God ! Make it a collection of precepts mixed with traditions, from which they will keep only what interests them, "here a little, there a little..." Jesus reproached the religious leaders : "You pay the tithe of the mint, of dill and cumin, and you leave what is more important in law, justice, mercy and faithfulness" (Matthew 23:23). While respecting certain details of the Law to the letter, they completely missed its purpose.

Christians, how do we view the Bible, the Word of our God ? If we distance ourselves from it, if we read it mechanically, "expediting" a religious duty, it will quickly appear to us as : "command upon command, line upon line" ; it will lose its flavor and will not act in our lives.

But if we read it with prayer, with a sincere and upright heart, asking the One who inspired it to reveal himself to us, we can daily experience the author of Psalm 119 : "Thy Word brought me to life". And like Jeremiah we will be able to say : "Your words have given me joy and joy in my heart" (Jeremiah 15. 16).

Source (The Good Seed)