every word -- part 1

The Word for today:
Deuteronomy 6

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)

“Why do we study the Bible?” “What’s in it for me?” “Where does it take me?”

When I’m asked those questions, I point to Deuteronomy chapters 6-8 for the answers. Since that is where we are, we’ll field those questions, one at a time, over the next few days.

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“Why should we study the Bible?”

The best answer is found right here:

So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:3)

I could rest my case on that testimony alone, but I won’t -- because I want to take you to an astonishing New Testament passage where the incarnate Word of God echoes the written Word of God concerning every word of God:

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.
Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."
But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" (Matthew 4:1-4)

That is why we should study the Bible. Any way we slice it or dice it, Moses (quoting God) and Jesus (quoting Moses, quoting God) say that our spiritual life is unsustainable without daily ingestion of God's Word.

Now let’s see what else Deuteronomy has to say on this subject:

"And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)

We should teach it, talk it, walk it, sleep on it, awaken to it, tie it to our hands, paste it to our heads, spray-paint it on the front door and on the toll booth!

Tomorrow, we will.

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