I've heard people described as being a man or woman "of the Word." Of course, I know that to mean that such people are "in the Word" a lot -- reading God's Word, the Bible, a great deal. It must also mean that they know the Word of God very well, remembering what they've read. But if someone can be described as a person "of the Word," it must also mean that they live according to what God's Word says.
Psalm 119, a long psalm written entirely about the importance of God's Word in our lives, begins with a verse that says, "How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord." As I read that, I'm struck with a question: How much of my life is actually spent living according to what I've read and remember from God's Word? In other words, how much of my "walk" reflects the Word of God?
I'm not talking about being some legalist who introspectively measures every moment of every day and beats myself up for straying the tiniest bit from what I know the Bible to teach. I simply mean, how conscious am I of God's Word throughout each day that God gives me to live for Him? How mindful am I to deliberately love the people I meet, to be thankful for every circumstance, to rejoice always and to share the Gospel with others just as God's Word commands me to? Yes, all of those things are commands in God's Word. Commands I'm meant to obey by the grace and strength God promises to those who know Him. That's how I can truly be a man of the Word -- by walking in the law of the Lord. It's only by walking the words I read in God's Word that I will truly be a man of the Word.
So please join me in seeking God's abundant help to live each day according to what we learn from His Word. After all, that is the exercise we need to grow stronger in walking God's Word.
© 2009 by Ken Peters
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