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November 19, 2011

Giving Thanks ... day twenty


    20. God's Blessed and Holy Word
I confess, I have a hard time remembering how truly important it is to read His Word daily. There's ALWAYS something else I want to do, and I have to make a choice. I often --- nay, most often --- choose something else. No, we don't need to be reading our Bibles constantly, and no, doing pleasurable things (such as reading other books, going for a walk, or spending time with friends) is not evil --- they are an entirely different matter of discussion. But we do need to keep in mind that if we are Christians who spend more time doing the things WE want to do rather than what GOD wants us to do, we're giving Satan an enormous foothold on our lives and hearts. We begin to justify what we do, thinking, "But I'm not going out and murdering someone, so it's okay." Yeah, that does sound drastic, but read what Corrie ten Boom had to say on the subject when she and her sick sister Betsie were in prison for harboring Jews in their home:

"Selfishness had a life of its own. As I watched Mien's bag of yeast-compound disappear I began taking it from beneath the straw only after lights-out when others would not see and ask for some. Wasn't Betsie's health more important? (You see, God, she can do so much for them! Remember that house, after the war!) 
    And even if it wasn't right --- it wasn't so very wrong, was it? Not wrong like sadism and murder and the other monstrous evils we saw in Ravensbruck every day. Oh, this was the great ploy of Satan in that kingdom of his: to display such blatant evil that one could almost believe one's own secret sins didn't matter."

{ emphasis added }

Every sin, no matter how small is sin, selfishness included.

God's Word is such a blessing that I wonder sometimes why it is such a struggle to sit down with it, even for as little as fifteen minutes? I really do love the Bible; not only is it full of true stories that are as delicious to read as my beloved fairy-tales, but the Truth of the Gospel which gave me new life in Christ, as well as instructions for how to return His love for all He has done and all that He is.

Bless the Lord for His Word, and for not letting our Salvation depend upon us, but only on He who saves!


"And looking at them Jesus said to them,  
With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
-Matthew 19:26

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