The Words Rush Out and Kiss You!
In the age in which we live there is an endless supply of places to look for information. You can download apps to your smart phone and or other hand held devices that give endless sources of information. Google and other search engines provide lists of websites that match your search criteria. Bookstores are full of books that address the topics you are interested in. Ask a question on social media and you are likely to get replies from many “experts.” Talk show hosts pontificate on a variety of subjects, some of which they actually have knowledge on. Family and friends often can be of great help to us if we would just ask.
The challenge comes not from finding enough places to look for information but from being able to know which are reliable and which are not. Is the answer based upon fact or is it just an opinion? Is there credible evidence to back up the data? What is the source of the information? Has this information been “time tested” or is it some new theory? Is it based upon current trends or something from fifty years ago? These are all questions we need to ask when trying to gain insight or knowledge of a particular topic.
For many of us, when we were young, we viewed asking for help as a sign of weakness. With maturity we begin to find out that wisdom comes not from knowing it all but rather from knowing who and where to go to find out whatever it is we need to find out. Even then, we sometimes end up making bad decisions. It might be that we got bad information or that we misunderstood that information, or even that we ignored the advice given.
Whatever the case, we tend to be skeptical of most information. We do however have one source of information that is always reliable and dependable. This source always has our best interests in mind. That source is God. We can find the answers to living life the way it is intended to be lived both by going to God directly and by reading His Word as found in the Bible.
When we read the Bible under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:2; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16), it becomes alive and active (Hebrews 4:12). The words on the page invite us in. We begin to be transformed. As the Spirit works in us, we do not simply understand and then follow. Instead, we come to understand as we follow. Ask God’s Spirit to open up your mind as you read and see what happens!
Saint Ephrem of Edessa, a fourth-century Syriac Christian said this of reading the Bible for the first time – “I read the opening of this book and was filled of joy, for its verses and lines spread out their arms to welcome me; the first rushed out and kissed me, and led me to its companion; and when I reached that verse wherein is written the story of Paradise, it lifted me up and transported me from the bosom of the book to the very bosom of Paradise.”
So, I ask, are you asking God for what he is ready to give? Are you allowing His Word to rush out and kiss you?
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