VERSE FOR TODAY: But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves (James 2:22, New American Standard Bible).
HYMN FOR TODAY: "Wonderful Words of Life"
What a paradigm for the church! Gathering around the Word of God to listen and to understand and then to immediately do what is understood in the Book. Is this not what God expects us to do with His Words? Is there any other appropriate response to the living Word of God? What would happen in our churches today if there were this kind of immediate obedience to the Word of God? What would happen in our world if God's people everywhere urgently responded to the Word as did these Old Testament Israelites when Ezra, the scribe, read and gave the understanding?
Luther said he studied his Bible in the same manner as he gathered apples. First, he shook the whole tree, that the ripest might fall; then he shook each limb, and when he had shaken each limbe shook each branch, and after branch, every twig; and then he looked under every leaf.
We need to approach the Bible as a whole, reading it all the way through. Then we need to study it book after book. Then give attention to each chapter and paragraph and sentence. And Reward also comes when we look under every leaf-- searching out the meaning of each word.
PRAYER THOUGHS: Lord, help us to hear and understand Your Word. But help us to be more than just hearers-- help us to be doers of what Your Word says. Thank You for this wonderful Book! In Your Son's name Amen.
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