Is God's Word Living In You?

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
-Colossians 3:16 (King James Version)

There is nothing more important for the Christian, in my opinion, than time spent studying the Word of God. How else can you grow and become the person He wants you to be if you're not spending time in His Word. But, we must be careful to not just read the Word, we must apply the Word to our lives. James writes "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (James 1:22)." We deceive ourselves when we are just "hearing" the Word, and not doing the Word.

Paul writes, in Colossians 3:16, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom..." To dwell means to reside, it gives the idea of a residence or to live as a resident. The Word of Christ should take residence in our lives. It means the Word of Christ should live in us as we live in Him. Jesus said, "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. (John 14:23-24)." We prove our love for Him if we keep His Word. We show our hatred of Jesus if we don't keep His Word. The Word of Christ must be part of our lives.

Look at what Paul said to Timothy about the Word of God. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (Second Timothy 3:16-17)." The reason the Word of Christ must dwell in our lives is so that we may be ready for the works God has for us to do. You cannot do your job at work unless you're trained for the job you were hired for. Likewise, we can't do the work God has called us to do unless we're trained through the Word to do it. 

Friends, the Word of God must be a living resident in our lives. Are you a doer of what the Word says? Think About It.

Are We Ignorant?

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

² For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

³ For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

-Romans 10:1-3 (King James Version)

I really think these words of Paul are among the most insightful words he's written. These words, I believe, are directed right toward the religious leaders during his time. The reason they are so insightful is because he, Paul, was one of them. Paul was a Pharisee, and in Philippians 3:4-8 he recounts all that he was, and how he now views that compared to Christ. 

He says, in Romans 10:1, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved." Paul wanted them to be saved. That was his desire. Verse 2, "For I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." The religious leaders he studied under had a zeal for God, but, according to verse 3, their zeal was based upon trying to establish their own brand of righteousness. "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God." When you study the encounters between Jesus and the religious leaders of His day, you see where they (the religious leaders), put more emphasis on their own man made doctrines of how things should be, than on the commandments that God had given them to follow. Maybe they felt that the Old Testament law was incomplete, and they needed to fill in the gaps, and and add some things here and there. They didn't understand the righteousness of God, and they would never submit themselves to it.

That brings us to today. People are still trying to establish their own righteousness through their own man made doctrines, instead of what is written in the Word of God. We have a zeal for God, but our zeal is misplaced. Our zeal for God is placed upon the things we believe God should stand for, how we believe God should work. We add to and subtract from His Word, for we feel we know better what He meant. In reality, all those efforts mean we are still ignorant of God's righteousness. Think About It.