Granada Church Devotionals
Welcome to 2025, Thursday, January 2nd
[music] This is Thursday, January 2nd. Do you feel like your life works? At this time of year, there's an immense amount of advice about how to craft our lives, how to live your best life, what to add, what to take away. We want to rid ourselves of the feeling so vividly described by the English novelist, his name is Arnold Bennett, who said, "The year slipped by and slipped by and that we have not been able to get our lives into proper working order." Now, of course, we might ask, "What is proper working order?" We have been starting this new year by working on developing a rule of life, a way of living that enables us to enjoy Jesus, to come to know Jesus more deeply, and to live the life that he has for us. This week, we have focused on two disciplines, prayer and scripture. Why is scripture so important to our life and God? This is the way I think about it. Your heart will learn a vocabulary, a language that gives you a perspective of everything. This is the way you make sense of the world, the way you think about yourself, about others, and about God. How do you develop that? By immersing yourself in God's Word. Here's our scripture for today from 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 16 to 17. All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Now these words of the Apostle Paul were first written as instructions to the man who became pastor of the church in Ephesus, his name is Timothy. Paul spent more time there in Ephesus than in any other place during his travels. At one point, he stayed there and shared the gospel for three years. Paul put the young man Timothy in charge when he left, and as the years unfolded, Paul continued to mentor him and guide him along in his ministry. Here is Paul exhorting him to make scripture the basis for all that he does. By the way, all of us will have a heart vocabulary. Just tonight I heard a few people singing the songs from the Disney movie chosen by heart. How many times you have to see the movie or listen to the songs to learn all of the words? What happens when we learn them? I think they begin to have the power to shape our way of thinking, though we may not care to admit it. What would you like to be shaped by? What ideas? What teachings? What worldview? Paul tells Timothy that God breathed out his word. This is shorthand for saying that the Spirit of God made the writing and preservation of the scriptures possible. What we like to say is that the Word of God is inerrant or without error, and it is the only rule for what to believe and how to live. Yes, it equips us for every good work, or what we might call the best way to live. Yes, righteousness means right living, or living the best life. Now, as we begin today, Scripture helps us get our lives into proper working order. But how can it shape our lives if we do not immerse ourselves in it? Of course, it can't. That's why we want to spend time in Scripture every day. We don't do this to merit the love or attention of God, but as with prayer, to know and enjoy God. What is the best way to appropriate the Word of God? For some people, it's hearing the Bible read by others. If you're an oral or auditory learner, you can use a Bible app to listen to Scripture while you're in the car, or you can set a time aside some time to focus on the Word. If you're a visual learner, then reading is the best bet for you. You will find you can drive Scripture deeper in your heart when you memorize verses or sections of Scripture. Then you can recall these passages when you need them. The goal is internalization. That's what results in shaping your life around the Word of God. That is how Scripture becomes the vocabulary of your heart. This is what we see in Jesus. At the very beginning of His ministry, the Spirit of God led Jesus into the wilderness to be tested. Satan came to a sale, Jesus, as Satan had done with the first two people, Adam and Eve, many years before in the garden. But each time, Jesus responds not with His Word, but with the Word of God. Indeed, Jesus quoted the Torah, saying, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." Now, of course, this is literally true. Our world exists, and we do, too, because God spoke His Word. And our lives become ordered, as the very creation was, when lived in accordance with the Word of God. Yes, God's Word tamed the chaos at the dawn of creation, and His Word in our lives does the same today. It holds back the chaos that would overtake our lives and our world. I think we know this by experience. For me, the greatest challenge to living from the Word is the many words that surround us, the noise that fills our lives, coming from every direction. To hear the clear Word of God, we must learn to silence the many other voices that desire our attention. How can this coming year become a year when our hearts are trained by the Word of God? Let's pray. Father God, you know how our lives are flooded with distractions, with a noise that seems almost impossible to quiet. We desire time with you in your Word. Empower us by your Spirit to enjoy your Word. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]