God Wrote a Book

Everything about God gets my mind reeling. From one characteristic to another, there is always something new or something deeper to learn about the character of God. No matter how we need God to show up in our life despite the circumstances we face, He promises to be there. He gives us promises after promises of all of these things that not one of us deserve. Here’s what I want us to let sink in. God wrote a book. We get the opportunity to hold the living, breathing, active Word of God in our hands and what do we do with it? Sit it on our bedside table. Tuck it away in a drawer. Leave it in the backseat so we don’t forget it next church service. We fall into this trap of letting our Bibles become this 1-2 times a week obligation where we open it during the church service, then close it back up until the next service. When the entire purpose that God wrote this book is so we can draw closer to Him. So we can see and experience His character. So we can know how He has carried His children through over and over again. And we let reading His Word become a check list item.

Society has conditioned us to believe that we have to have this itemized list to check off every single day to have that feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. If we can’t put a check in a box and move to the next item, then we’re not content. And somewhere along the way, we’ve fit reading the Bible and prayer into that check list. Maybe it’s a once a week check list item for you, or maybe you do have it as one of your daily check list items. But here's the problem: when we read with the mindset of “I’m doing this to say I’ve done it”, are we truly seeking after what God is waiting to tell us?

I think so often, we take advantage of the day and age that we live in. I try to stress to the kids in my class at church that people weren’t always able to go to the Bible bookstore or Hobby Lobby and buy a Bible whenever they wanted. People would travel from everywhere around to hear the scrolls read, not even able to hold it in their own hands. And even today, there are countries where Bibles are forbidden. But then here we are. Sitting in our houses, a Bible laying everywhere you look and all they’re doing is collecting dust because we’ve grown to neglect it. I think back to Bible times and wonder what those people would’ve given to be able to hold God’s Word in their hands. How they would have treated it as the most precious, sacred thing they’ve ever touched. Because it should be and we’ve let ourselves grow so numb to that. The Creator of the Universe wrote out the story of His unfailing love, His victory over death, and His free gift of salvation. He did this so that you and I could have something to turn to when we need to hear His voice. So we’d have this roadmap to live by when we don’t know what to do next. So we can see time after time how God never gave up on us. The God I serve is SO worthy of our time and worship, but way too often, we find ourselves convinced that we’re “too busy” for Him.

I like to refer to the Bible as God’s love story to us. It’s active, it’s living, it’s sacrificial and it’s Holy. God gave us access to these accounts of Him showing up for His children time and time again to give us this hope and peace in knowing that the same God that showed up for them is the same God that shows up for us. His living breath is breathed on every letter written in His Word and we have the audacity to choose a tv show or football game over spending time learning about the character of God. We’ve got to do a priority check, guys. The first thing we should do in the morning is spend time with God. In prayer, in reading, in worship. Put a pause on Facebook for a bit and use the gift of life that God gave us to seek after that relationship that He desires to have with us. The God that created the entire universe and holds all our tomorrows in His hands wants to have an intimate relationship with us. I know there is not a single thing I could do that should make God want to have that relationship with me, but His desire for a relationship with me has nothing to do with me and everything to do with Him and His character. He loves us so completely because that’s who He is. That’s His character that He’s showed us over and over again. The least we can do is give Him our efforts of chasing after a relationship with Him the same way He does us. By reading that love story that He gave us. By asking Him to speak to us through His Word. By spending time in prayer with Him. God wrote a book. So that you and I can come to know Him exactly as He always has been and always will be.