“Hey! I have been looking for you!!!”
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A few years ago I was walking through the food court on Camp Foster when I engaged a Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) who was just about to dig into his lunch. The conversation went something like this: Me: You gonna share that sandwich? CWO (laughing): Nope! In all my years of evangelism and engaging folks with the god-stuff — countering objections and excuses — this was a first. I had never heard “God speaks to me directly” before, so I was a little rattled and didn’t know what to say. I went straight home, opened my bible program, and did a search for words like “scripture, word, and written.” Bam! I found over 600 verses and read each one. I then had an epiphany of sorts about the enormity of the words of God. I filtered through this list of 600 and narrowed the list down to 26 verses, one verse to correspond with each letter of the alphabet. For example: A = ALL scripture is given by inspiration of God… (2Tim 3:16), B = BEING born again by the Word of God… (1Pet 1:23), C = Let the Word of CHRIST dwell in you richly… (Col 3:16), etc. I completed an A-Z list and entitled it “ABC’s of the Word.” I printed it out, actually laminated it, and I memorized it. Over the next 2-3 weeks, I carried this laminated list with me everywhere. Why??? Because I was looking for someone. About the third week, I was driving up to the Camp Foster Shoppette when I saw the CWO walking to his car. Mind you, I was loaded for bear, so I quickly parked, jumped out of my car, and yelled across the parking lot, “Hey!!! I have been looking for you!” I engaged him again. “A couple a weeks ago you told me that you don’t have to read the bible because ‘God speaks to you directly.’ You’re wrong!” I showed him the laminated list and said, “I made this for you! It’s a list from A-Z of why you’re supposed to read your bible!” I told him, “Look at F.” He looked and I said, “Romans 10:17 says that FAITH comes by hearing the word of God. If you’re not reading your bible, you’re not in faith! Look at D! James 1:22 says to be DOERS of the word! How can you be a DOER of the word if you’re not reading the word?! Read R! James 1:21 says to RECEIVE with meekness the engrafted Word which is able to save your soul. If you’re not receiving/reading the engrafted Word, is your soul saved?!! Look at S! Jesus said to be SANCTIFIED with truth, that God’s word is truth. You ain’t SANCTIFIED if you ain’t reading the Word!!” (I intentionally saved the big one for last.) Now, read J! JESUS said in Matthew 22:29 that you are in error if you don’t know the scriptures, nor the power of God! Do I need to explain this one to you?!!!” The CWO chuckled, humbly took the list, and thanked me. As God as my witness, I ran into that CWO again about a month later. He said that very weekend, after I gave him the laminated list, he and his had family visited a church, liked it, and have been going ever since. He said it’s where they were supposed to be and that his family was now growing spiritually and maritally. He said that for years other Christians would invite him to go to church, but he would give them the same excuses and they “just let me get away with it.” (His words.) The CWO went on to say that no one had “put their foot in me like you did.” (Again, his words. LOL!) The word of God is our fixed point of reference. The word of God is eternal, truth, power, salvation, wisdom, and love! We are born-again by the word of God (1Pe 1:23). Too many Christians neglect the word of God and, consequently, they are opinion-based instead of word-based. This is a travesty and one fundamental reason why the body of Christ is weak. Realize that the moment a person, a family, a community, a state, or a nation dismiss and abandon the word of God as our guide, someone or something else becomes god in that situation. Ignoring and discarding the word of God creates a vacuum, and Aristotle commented that “nature abhors a vacuum.” In America, with an increasing departure from God, can you not see the godlessness filling the void? Just ask people today a simple question, “Who makes the rules in your life?” Watch how many quickly and unwittingly respond, “Me. I do.” (This is where I point out, “So, you’re trying to be god.” You oughtta see the faces!) Bottom line, 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Like the Bereans (Acts 17:11), Believers would do well to examine the scriptures daily! If you’re a Christian, yet you neglect God’s word, I can guarantee that you are an opinion-based Christian. Not good, because everyone has opinions, but very few have the word of God. “ABC’s of the Word” |