Heartfelt

heartfelt by Diana Bryant

Recently, the final answer in a championship Jeopardy! round was: “President Calvin Coolidge was inaugurated in 1925 with a Bible opened to this six-word first line of the Gospel according to John.” Much to my surprise, all three contestants got it right by asking, “What is ‘In the beginning was the Word?’” While knowing the Word of God will probably not win you thousands of dollars, the benefits of being able to recall it when needed, having it hidden in your heart, is priceless.

Perhaps you started this year with a resolution to read the Bible every day, to increase your understanding, or to memorize portions. This is not meant to induce guilt if you haven’t perfectly kept that promise, but I wish somehow, we could all develop a hunger for the Word so it becomes a craving we can’t deny. Not merely reading the Word, but becoming biblically literate, familiar, knowledgeable, and applying scriptural principles correctly to every area of our being. It is life changing!

Knowing the truth intimately is more vital than ever, since lies come packaged so cunningly and shrewdly in today’s culture. We must know truth to detect false teaching when it increasingly comes to us disguised as enlightened thinking.

Faithfully studying the Word increases your knowledge of God, strengthens your faith, and enables you to store it in your heart and recall it when faced with decisions or uncertain direction. When your daily reading doesn’t seem to apply on a particular day, it will remain deep in your spirit and rise when needed. If the answer is, ‘Essential for spiritual survival,’ the question is definitely, “What is daily scriptural nourishment?”