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Power of the Word is in its Conveyance

I’m writing this from the airplane as I head to another country (and that’s why this is late). I don’t have my Bible out because of I have to be careful, considering where I am heading. I do have the Bible on computer, but it’s just not the same. Granted, the words are the same regardless of the medium in which they are written (stone, clay tablets, parchment scrolls, book form or digital), but I just can’t get into a musing or meditative mode with a computer version of the Bible. The Bible on computer is a great blessing for study and research. But for reading and meditating, you just can’t beat the word of God written on paper with pen and ink (well, ink anyways). Even if it were handy for daily reading, it’s difficult to get attached to a computer-Bible. But a real Bible with its leather cover and its pages worn with time becomes an old friend. This past Christmas my oldest son gave me a new Bible, as my old one was just worn out. But I miss my old Bible. I knew where things were on the pages. I had many personal notes in it and highlighted favorite passages. With the help of a friend I had personally put a new cover on it years ago. But, Lord willing, someday my new Bible will be old and I’ll feel the same about it, with the added sentiment that it was a gift from my son.

A number of lessons come to my mind. First, there is the need for every Christian to have his or her own personal Bible, one that will become part of you, like a beloved friend and constant companion. Of course, the only way that will happen is if you spend much time in your Bible, marking those favorite passages, learning to find your way around it, getting to know where things are on each page.

Another lesson that comes to my mind is that the power in the word of God is not simply in the words themselves. The medium does have at least some effect. For example, the spoken word has its own special power, as does the word of God when it is put to song (Eph 5.19; Col 3.16). Think of how differently the spoken word affects you when it is spoken well, with emotion and feeling in the reader’s voice, as opposed to it being spoken poorly and without inflection. This underscores the importance of forethought and practice on the part of those who read the word to the congregation, for the power of the word is at least somewhat dependent on the medium in which it is conveyed.

And if that is true, then the greatest medium in which the word can occur is the human heart. Paul said in 2 Cor 3.1-3, “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” Paul having the Corinthian brethren on his heart made for a much more powerful recommendation to them than simply having a letter written in ink. From that thought Paul extends the comparison to the word of God written on stone tablets versus that which is written in the human spirit. One is dead, the other is alive. I think we can make the same application to ourselves. Whether or not you read the word from a computer or from a regular Bible, the most important thing is that you write it on your heart, from where others will be able to read it as they see it powerfully displayed in your life. For, “we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves” (cf. 2 Cor 4.7).