"The Book" Part 2

I have heard the words countless times over the years from people on our mailing list, "Uh, Glen, I don't read the Orange Moon devotionals every day, but..."

Usually the subscriber has somewhat of an apologetic tone in his or her voice or note. This need not be the case, and let me say that I really do not expect people to daily read the five or six messages we send out each week. For those of you who do, and I know there are some, I find it to a humbling blessing for which I thank you. However, I do not imagine or anticipate that everyone who receives the devotions will read each one on the day it arrives in your email box (if ever). I rather pray that God will direct and prepare you to read the particular messages that may benefit your heart and mind with illumination, encouragement and challenge.

On the other hand, there are words that born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ should determine to read every day. We should daily read the Bible. I suggest this not in a legalistic or burdensome manner, but rather in light of the amazing gift that the Scriptures are to our hearts. The Holy Spirit who inspired the Word of God beckons us to its sacred pages in order to grace us with glories that can reach us in no other way. The living Word, the Lord Jesus, awaits us in the written Word, the Bible. Our Heavenly Father would lovingly reveal to us His beloved Son, as well as communicate to us the truth that if we have believed, we are now His beloved children as well. The Scriptures offer these bestowals of grace, along with countless other rays of light whereby our hearts and lives increasingly glimmer and gleam with the heart-fulfilling glory of God.

Certainly days occur when we find ourselves providentially hindered from reading the Bible. And certainly we can all look back on days when we could have opened the sacred Book, but did not. We cannot change the past, so we look to this day and to the future. As a matter of beneficent grace and necessary truth, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit call us to the Word of God for the purpose of personal fellowship and greater understanding. We will be changed thereby, changed always for the better as we make our approach in faith, humility, and the confidence that our Lord's good will awaits us in every word of His Good Book. Yes, a reading of the Bible, as Providence allows and directs, must form our intentions for this and every day.

"Give us this day our daily bread... I am the bread of life."

(Matthew 6:11; John 6:35)