The Powerful Bible

Have you ever sat at your computer screen and just blankly stared at the web pages in front of you? Have you ever scrolled Pinterest, or Facebook, or any other website, your eyes seeing the data in front of you, but feeling like your brain just cannot process it at all? Some would call this data smog, information glut, or simply, information overload. Our brains can only take in and process so much information – it filters out a lot, and we cannot remember it. We increasingly consume information, but we cannot process all of it, so we numbly scroll for more, trying to get our information fix. I don’t know why certain facts or images are retained, and other’s aren’t – but with so much data coming in, the brain can’t accurately assess what needs to stay and what can be let go. Consequently, I find myself remembering random Facebook statuses, information that is completely irrelevant to my life, and just stuff. I know it’s a waste, and yet I go back for more. I catch myself scrolling and scanning without even realizing it.

And yet, we have access to the most life changing book that has ever been written. A book that is truth, not gossip. A book that heals, not hurts. A book that gives us access to the Creator. So why do we spend more time on what’s irrelevant than the love letter written to

us from God? Hebrews 4:12 says ^“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” (NLT). There is power in God’s Word!

But do we truly live like God’s Word – our Bible – is powerful? Do I read it because, as a good Christian, I’m supposed to read it? Do I read it because it is a good book? Or do I read it because it is The Good Book? What if I read the Bible as eagerly as I scrolled through blogs, and Facebook, and, yes, even Pinterest? What if I read the Bible like a book that I just couldn’t put down? And what if I believed that reading it would make a difference in my life? Not just a “self-help” I’m going to be a better person difference, not just a “someday I’ll go to heaven” difference.  What if we accepted the Bible as a mystical expression of God’s love for us – something more powerful than us, too great for us to fully understand, but something we can completely believe in?

How would life be differently if we expectantly believed that God’s Word would make a difference in us, through us, and for us? How would we read it differently? How would we change? What would we do differently today if we could grasp the power of God’s Word?