God's Word Is Living And Active
When I read the Bible for the first time, I had no idea what I was about to experience.
I was 20 years old at the time and not yet a Christian. As I opened the New Testament and began reading, the words seemed to leap off the pages and plunge right into my soul. It was like Jesus turned on a light inside my (darkened) heart and began downloading truth, after truth, after truth.
Growing up, I believed being a good person would get me into heaven. As a teenager, I viewed my sins as “no big deal” to God because I was not out murdering people. Compared to “those sinners,” I saw my sins as pretty benign. So, I had no reason to fear hell.
As I read the pages of Scripture, two things happened:
Jesus counteracted my false beliefs with the truth of the Gospel.
The Holy Spirit convicted me of my sins while confronting me with the reality of hell, given the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).
That might sound like a frightening experience for me, but it was nothing like that. It felt more like a loving God giving me a strong cup of coffee to sober me up after drinking and get me thinking clearly. It was the wake-up call I needed.
It has been 33 years since I surrendered my life to Jesus by faith. You would think, after all this time, and being a devoted reader of the Word, that the Bible would lose its power in my life. Not true! To the contrary, “For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
Do you want Jesus speaking powerfully to you through His Word? I encourage you to open the pages of Scripture and read them every day, even if you can only squeeze in a few minutes or a single chapter. God’s Word will never return void but is effectual “for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man [or woman] of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:17).