Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:105
It is my personal opinion that the vast majority of people who claim to be Christians in the USA do not understand the essential need we have to read, understand and apply the Bible to their lives. What do I base this on? Well, a study several years ago of a few thousand people who fit the criteria of a born-again believers found that only 5% of those folks have ever read the entire Bible in both Old Testament and New Testament. It seems crazy to me for someone to loudly proclaim that the Bible is God’s Word for all authority in our life and then to never take the time to read it all. On top of that, I have noticed that most churches in America do not encourage people to bring their Bible to the classes and services as they do not really teach from the Bible except a verse or two that are on a screen. Those who attend these types of churches quickly pick up that the Bible really is not that important, and God’s Word is not the authority for our lives.
The above verse teaches us that we need God’s Word, the scriptures, to know truth and find God’s will for us. The whole long section of scripture of Psalm 119 is about the importance of God’s Word to all of us. We need to practice reading and studying the Bible each day and to pray to our Lord for understanding and help in living out the truth. To fail in applying God’s Word to our life will leave us subject to the lies of the world, the flesh and the devil and we will not get our mind renewed as we all need. My focus for 2025 is to help everyone to be more consistent in their relationship with Jesus Christ and to spend each day “abiding” in Him spiritually. We each must choose whether this will be a priority for us as this is a heart matter, not just a head matter. Do we know and love Jesus? Are we grateful for all He has done for us on the cross of Calvary? Do we realize the danger to any one of us if we grow careless and slipshod in our walk with Him? I hope we all choose to put the Lord #1 in our life as the greatest commandment teaches us and then we can go on to love other people as He directs us. Blessings!
Love in Christ,
Pastor Gary Houdek