Walking in the Power of God's Wordনমুনা

Day One: The Word Made Flesh

John 1 is a perfect place for us to start this study because it's where everything starts. At least, it's where we read about everything starting. It's where we read about beginnings, and where we realise just how significant this book we so often overlook truly is.

Like the many mysteries of God, John 1 is a book that is both complex and so clear all at the same time.

John makes it clear in chapter one that the Word (the 'logos' in Greek) is Jesus. This can get complicated because the Greek root word 'logos' is also used to describe Scripture literally.

So, let's break this down a little. Can you remember a time when you've said that someone or something literally EMBODIES something or someone else? "She absolutely embodies grace," for example? Well, simply put, Jesus IS the message of God in human form.

Word made flesh. It's important we start here because otherwise, we can get confused and believe that we're somehow worshipping a book and erroneously make the main point the container of the message as opposed to the message itself. In light of that famous quote, "A Bible which is falling apart usually belongs to a person who isn't." - The book is not the point. But what the book holds changes everything.

The message of God the Father was lived out and embodied in the life of Jesus, His Son, and is present in the very pages of our Bibles as God-breathed words by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In order to explore this "Living Word" aspect a little further, we’re going to look at the book of 2 Timothy and the life of Paul the Apostle. (We’ll be there tomorrow, so stay tuned.)

Paul's journey was full of ups and downs, and yet he was able to hold onto this unwavering faith and diligently held fast to the Scriptures because of the message he found there. In John's Gospel, chapter 5, verse 39, Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees who were, by all intents and purposes, extremely religious but were sadly void of relationship with God. He says:

"You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me..."

As we have begun to unpack, to study this book even when it's illuminated to us by the Holy Spirit, is only part of the story. The truth of The Bible is Jesus - both Old and New Testament point to Jesus. The author and perfecter of our faith.

As we go about our busy day-to-day life, may we see our ‘quiet time’ as far more than simply a tick box exercise, but instead, may our time in the word be illuminating, empowering and all that we need to remind us that God is with us through it all.