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Lenten Devotional

April 14, 2019

All Day

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly

Colossians 3:16

Put On
Gospel Gold

“To dwell” means to get as close to something or someone as possible; we could also say we have to completely immerse ourselves in something. We have to be in it. We cannot just stick our foot in the water, we have to jump into it, to be fully immersed in it.

Eugene Peterson in The Message puts it as follows: “Let the word of Christ, the message, have the run of the house, give it plenty of room in your lives.”

In John 14:10 Christ says: “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me?”

It is not enough to know a few generalities or to know a few verses from the Gospel by heart. To know John 3:16 and the “Lord’s Prayer” does not do it – this is not dwelling in the Word; there is no immersion. Scripture should control and penetrate our thoughts and our actions.

Only by knowing the Word of Christ can we become more “Christ-like,” leading a life that is more obedient, more faithful, more pleasing to God. To know any subject, to acquire a sound knowledge about it, means studying it. And here our subject is the Word of Christ, the Gospel.

Our study guide is the Bible. We must read it attentively, repeatedly and above all prayerfully, so that God might open our hearts and minds. We should pray that we grow in our faith and become more Christ-like, more obedient and also more joyful in him. Good Bible commentaries can be very useful, but the source is always the Bible, as Luther said 500 years ago: “Sola Scriptura.”

Let us start and finish the day with God’s Word and, let us make sure that we have a good amount of quiet time for studying it in depth.

And we don’t have to do everything on our own. Let us go to worship services and listen to the sermons or join a home group or one of IPC’s Bible studies to share the Word with others.

And as Nike says: “Just do it!”

Prayer: Lord God Almighty, open our hearts and our minds so that we understand your Word. Then help us go and follow it.  Amen.

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