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Posts Tagged ‘the Word’

A Word, Please

Posted in Christian, Devotional, tagged , , , , , , , on April 23, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15

Over my first month as an internet missionary, I have felt the weightiness of words. Words can build up hope or slash a person’s dreams. They can offend or bolster one’s beliefs. They can trigger interest or make someone click off and seek elsewhere on the web.

Such power! And that is just “human” words. Written words. What about the Word? How are we using that? Or are we?

At Power To Change’s The Life Project, we are careful to not offend because we want to draw people to Jesus – not push them away. However, we also have the responsibility to bear witness to the Truth. Over 20,000 people from all over the world daily click on our articles and devotionals. Our words reach places we cannot fathom.

Isn’t that the same with each of us in our social media conversations, whether texted, posted or tweeted? The internet is a powerful platform. Folks post for different reasons. Some seek answers. There are those who seek pity while others crave fame, even if it is negative or offensive. A few want to use their words as weapons.

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

As Christians, we have been given the Word. We need to not only monitor what comes out of our mouths, but what is typed on our QWERTY boards and appearing on the screens of people we may never have direct contact with.

Review your past few weeks of tweets, posts and texts. What message are you sending? Are you using the internet to build up or tear down? To bolster your own ego or point to Jesus?  Whine about your life, your elected officials, the weather, your coworkers – or count your blessings? Console others or one-up them with your list of woes? Share the Good News or gossip?

Words – powerful things. The Word, is power personified. Which will we tap into the most this week to communicate?

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Old book- old friend

Posted in Biblical, Books, Life Experiences, tagged , , , , , on September 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »

There is was – the key in my mail slot. I had a package waiting in one of the six large lockers. It took every effort not to whoop with joy in the middle of the maIMAG0085il station at my apartments.

Recently I discovered the favorite author of my childhood, who passed from this life over 20 years ago, had written two more books while I was busy raising a family, working, and living my life. So, I ordered them from a used thrifty book store, excited, yet a little saddened,  that they had been reduced to $3.99, the price of a modern eBook novel. To me, her writing was much more valuable than that.

When I opened the package, there was no smell of fresh ink. The cover was dog-eared and a bit tattered on the edges from sliding in and out of bookshelves. The binding had been cracked numerous times, and a slight yellowing border of age eked around the pages..

None of that mattered, because the words were there. The personality of her writing, the way she described scenes, her unique dialog techniques had not faded with time. As my eyes scanned the pages, memorizes swirled between the words. It was as if I’d begun a conversation with an old friend I had not seen in decades. I cuddled down into the story.

Do I react the same with with God’s living Word? They say a person who has a tattered Bible does not have a tattered life.  And while my favorite Bible is getting on in years, I have more and more relied on my phone app instead. Not tot say I don’t enjoy having easy access to the Bible in my purse, but I have begun to miss my old friend with the dogeared pages, highlighted verses, and scribbles in the margins. So, I went to the shelf and cracked open the binding. As I cocked my head to read, a warmth cascaded over my shoulders into my heart. Prayers answered, revelations revealed, sorrows comforted. My life reflected there. My faith restored.

A plaque in my room reads – The Bible is the only book whose author is present each time it is read.

My favorite author left this earth two decades ago. She will never write again, But my Lord, who left earth two millennia ago, is still present in my everyday world, and writes on my heart.  I see evidence of Him each day in creation, in words of a song, a smile of a friend, even on Facebook.  Yet nothing beats cuddling into His Word. His Word still breathes life into me.

It took an old paperback in my mail locker to remind me of that fact.

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