Building Your Life on the Word of Life

By Danny Saavedra

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”—Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)

Did you know that what you build your house on matters—its foundation? If you don’t have solid materials placed the right way in the right place, then your house will fall apart.

In this life, the Bible is the only true foundation for us to live by. Every other foundation upon which we build our lives will eventually fall apart. You see, the Bible is the primary way God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. It’s the very foundation upon which we’re to build and base our lives! That’s why 2 Timothy 3:16–17 (NIV, emphasis added) declares, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Over and over, Jesus tells us if we know Him, then we know God and have seen God. And the primary way we get to know Jesus is through the Bible. It’s His powerful, authoritative, enlightening, and life-changing self-expression. It’s the very breath of God on each page! And it’s how we grow in relationship with Him, how we come to truly know who He is, and how we understand His heart, mind, character, nature, and will.

In the same way that time spent and communication with my wife is essential for me to know her, so it is with the Bible as it pertains to knowing the Lord! My friends, without true devotion to the Bible, we will quickly lose sight of the true, genuine gospel and the real Jesus! Without hiding His Word in our hearts, we won’t be able to recognize His voice when He speaks!

It’s truly a remarkable thing, an incomprehensible gift from the Lord, that we even have a Bible we can read whenever we want! It’s a blessing beyond my ability to express it to you. Consider that for almost all of human history, dating back to the Old Testament and through most of church history up until a few centuries ago, and even today in many places worldwide, Christians have not had their own personal copies of the Bible. They had to come together to hear someone read it to them. Some didn’t have a copy to read and had to recite it from their memories: rabbis, scholars, priests, and Pharisees would literally memorize the Torah, the first five books of the Bible! It really puts Paul’s instruction in 1 Timothy 4:13 (NIV) to “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture” into perspective, doesn’t it? Because the public reading of Scripture was all most believers had since the dawn of the church!

But now, we have printed Bibles and Bible apps at our disposal. In fact, many of us have various Bibles in our homes and maybe even one or two different Bible apps on our phones and tablets. I pray that whatever season you find yourself in right now, this study will inspire you to invest time into your relationship with Jesus, deeper knowledge of Him, and intimacy with Him. I pray you would soak your life more deeply in the voice of God that is revealed to us through the Word of God by the Spirit of God. I pray we would never take His Word for granted and instead develop a more profound love for it.

Pause: Why is the Bible so important? How does it form the basis and foundation for our lives?

Practice: Today, count how many Bibles you own, including digital. Consider how many times per week you engage with your Bibles. Do you feel you’re devoting enough time to hearing from the Lord? If not, what will you do about it?

Pray: Father, thank You for the Word. Thank You for Your wonderful, living, active, life-giving self-expression, Your very breath on a page. Help me, Lord, to be devoted to the public and private reading of the Word, to build my life daily upon Scripture, and to allow Your Spirit to change me through it. Amen.