Devotion – January 19 – “Living Word”
The Apostle John begins his Christmas story this way: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...All things came into being through him and without him not one thing came into being...And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”
“And the Word became flesh and lived among us.” Do we have any understand how incredible this is? This living word which once called all things into being (Genesis 1), is now walking in the midst of us. And John's unspoken question to his readers is this: “Are you listening?”
Think about it -- all the words spoken by God became a reality. Each word proclaimed became reality. Now this very word is living among us, speaking to us: Should we listen?
We have all read many stories where a man and a woman fall in love. The relationship grows to the point where, in a moment of tenderness, the man whispers out that he loves her. His life explodes in joy when she says, “I love you, too.” This relationship continues to grow, and leads one to say, “Will you marry me?” and when the other says,“Yes,” they both know that from that moment on those ‘words’ mean their entire life is going to change. Living words change lives forever!
In heaven, God made a decision: “No more talking to my people from the mountains of Mt. Sinai, or Mt. Horeb. No, more talking through prophets – let my word now life and dwell among them. Let my words speak directly into the heart of each person.”
And so the Word took on flesh and dwelt among us. It walked among us, living in our joys and our sorrows. And the Word brought change. People repented. People walked in a new direction – towards God. Fishermen left their livelihoods and heeded the call from the One who said, “Followed me.” Jesus said to the demons, “leave,” and they did. To the spirit’s of sickness, Jesus cried, “Be gone,” and they left, bringing healing. To the lame, Jesus said, “Rise,” and they walked. To the sinner, “You are forgiven,” and they were reborn.
We hear a lot of words from people nowadays (way too many words!). Maybe it’s time to give others less of our “ear time” and give more of our listening time to Jesus – the Living Word. The one with words of power, words of truth and words that change life forever.
~ Blessings, Dan