Tag Archives: believe

The Bible is More than a Great Story Book

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A portion of the many Bible we have in our home. Seen here are my dad’s (Senior’s Devotional), Don’s dad’s (small black Holy Bible), my brother’s (from late teen years), my mom’s (burgundy), and one of my son’s first Bibles. Many translations, many versions, all God’s Word.

The Bible is full of amazing stories. One in particular stands out to me as I’m writing this blog about the wisdom I’ve gained in my six decades of life. There was once a wealthy and honorable man who loved God. The Lord allowed Satan to destroy this man’s flocks, his possessions, his children, and his health – and yet, after all that, the man refuses to give up his trust in God. He doesn’t understand why these things are happening to him, but he trusts God through it all, even when his wife turns away, and his friends accuse him of sin. The man’s name was Job and he has a whole book of the Bible telling his amazing story.

In Job, chapter 1, we hear of a day in heaven when the angels present themselves before God, and Satan (called “The Accuser”) comes with the other angels. You can read the story yourself, but in a nutshell, the Lord presents Job as the finest man in the whole earth. Satan says, “Sure, because You have blessed him with everything he could ever want. But just let him lose everything, and he’ll curse You.” So God allows Satan to take everything from Job, except his life. The rest of the book details the results of these actions by Satan. By the end, when God finally answers Job’s questions, we realize, along with Job and his friends, that God is in control of this world, and only He understands why the good are allowed to suffer.

Job’s story is only one instance out of many when God speaks directly to a man (or many). From Genesis to Revelation, God speaks…to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden,  to Noah about building the ark, to Abraham about a trip He’d like Abe to take (Where? I’ll let you know when you get there.), to Jacob (they actually had a bit of an all-night wrestling match), to Joseph (through dreams and visions), to Moses from a burning bush, and the list goes on and on. And He continues to speak to men and women today.

God speaks to me every day through the Bible. Scriptures are full of verses showing God cares for me, He has a plan for me (and you), He won’t leave me alone, and He’s looking forward to spending eternity with me. But I would never know any of this if I didn’t read it. The Bible is my instruction manual for how to live my life, how to treat other people, how to believe and act out that belief.

img_4243As the book I hold most dear, I’ve read through the Bible many times in my almost 60 years of life. But I didn’t always realize the richness held within its pages. I didn’t always believe it truly was the living Word of God. I used to think it was just a great collection of amazing stories that may or may not be true. But…over time…through the good and bad times of life…I’ve come to realize and believe that every word written in that Book is life-changing, is living, is active in my life. It has the power to challenge me, shape me, mold me into the woman of God He desires and created me to be. Of this, I have no doubt.

Job – a man who loved God through devastating trials and tribulations – trusted Him. Me – a woman who loves God through ups and downs (though, so thankful not as low as Job went) – trust God because I know I can hold tight to God’s promises. He loves me, He has a plan for me, and He will never leave me.

The Bible tells me so.

 

You is smart. You is kind. You is important.

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The-Most-Destructive-Words

“Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” What a lie. A big fat lie. Words can cause greater damage than any stick or stone.

We often believe what we hear about ourselves, especially if the speaker is someone in authority or someone we trust or admire. Parents, siblings, other family members, teachers, coaches…even ourselves. I’ve found in my tutoring of students of all ages that my toughest job is getting them to believe in themselves after hearing things like “You can’t” or “You’re dumb” or “You’ll never…” for far too long.

Two solutions.

First, don’t destroy others with your words. Be an encourager, a cheerleader. Don’t bad mouth someone, or be nasty or rude. Avoid saying (or typing in your status bar) anything destructive or negative about another person. No matter who they are. No matter their political party or religious denomination. No matter what you perceive they think of you or have done to you. A well known person once said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” Good advice for all of us.

Secondly, do not disparage or bad mouth yourself…not your mind or intelligence, your emotions or your physical body. No matter what someone else has ever said about you…You are smart. You are kind. You are important.

God’s Word is full of His words of unconditional love and acceptance of who you are. Are you calling God a liar? Start reading through Proverbs and inserting your name.

“The speech of KRIS is worth waiting for…” (Proverbs 10:20a) Or “The speech of KRIS clears the air…” (Proverbs 10:32a) Or “The words of the wicked kill; the speech of KRIS saves.” (Proverbs 12:6) One of my favorites is Proverbs 16:24 – “Kris’ gracious speech is like clover honey – good taste to the soul, quick energy for the body.”

I’m attaching the link for a more in depth article about the power of our words if you need more convincing but this Scripture from James states it pretty clearly.

“It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.” (James 3:5-6 MSG)