Week 1 Day 4: Our Need For The Word

"In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1 NLT

How is it that so many of us miss the fact that the Bible is a unified story about Jesus? Some of this is in part because of language, cultural and time barriers that can hinder our reading and understanding the Bible.

The Bible is a divinely inspired book, full of prophecy fulfilled and things yet to come. It is more than an instruction manual, more than a grab bag of catchy quotes and inspirational one-liners. It is a unified story from beginning to end that begins with the need for a Savior and ends with that Savior eventually undoing all the evil man has done on his own.

The Bible is the living, breathing Word of God that leads us to see Jesus because Jesus was the complete, living embodiment of the Word of God. He is what humans were supposed to be before Adam and Eve chose to go their own way. He did not come to abolish the law, on the contrary, He came to show us the law lived out. He was not an actor living out a role, following what the scriptures said. The scriptures make up His essence, His heart and every fiber of His being.

It is one thing to learn something and follow it, but it is totally different to live out of what you are made of and be all you are. When humans just do what “comes naturally” we find destruction and death. But when Jesus did what came naturally to Him we find healing and life. He could live out the Word perfectly because He is the Word. He didn’t have to learn it, He didn’t have to refer to it to figure out His response, He simply lived it out.

If we could follow every word of the Bible, we would look just like Jesus. But time after time, the stories and situations written about in the Bible show that man is incapable of such a thing, no matter how hard we try. We needed a representative, someone to show us what the Word in action looks like, so God sent us Jesus. It is one thing to see something in writing, it is another thing to see it in action.

We live in a time where people communicate more in writing than they do face to face, causing stress and strain on relationships. Studies have shown that non-verbal communication (body language and tone of voice) can account for as much as 93% of our communication. That means the words we use are not nearly as important as the actions we take with those words. Jesus shows us the scripture, the Bible lived out. That is why John calls Him “The" Word.

Have you ever had someone misinterpret what you are trying to say in a text or an email? How do you think having a closer relationship with someone helps alleviate misunderstandings in texts and emails?

Memorize and Meditate on John 1:1