STEWARDSHIP OF GOD'S WORD

An heirloom is generally a possession that has intrinsic and/or sentimental value and is handed down from generation to generation. Sometimes an heirloom is a piece of furniture, jewelry, china, books, photographs or papers. Usually there is a story behind the item or at least a name of the original owner and who they were in the family tree.

I have become the protector of many of our family heirlooms, but it is my husband who has taken responsibility of the one of the most precious heirlooms of all time: God’s Word.

Our very most precious heirloom of course is Jesus. As believers, we have been adopted into God’s family. We have inherited salvation through our belief that Christ died for us. And by godly teaching and example of right living, by explaining our faith and testifying to it, we can pass that faith from generation to generation.

That heirloom is true and beyond value and although it can be felt and understood, it cannot be touched or held.

But God’s Word can be—in the form of the Bible.

That is where hubby comes in. In our safe, we have several versions of God’s Word. Some of the Bibles were printed before 1800; some after. Many have been enhanced with glorious illuminated script; others with minutely detailed black and white etchings.

Whenever hubby removes a Bible from the safe and shares it with a friend, he does so with reverence and care because, as he says, he does not own the Bible. The Bible belongs to God. He is merely its steward.

And so, the small collection of Bibles in our safe will probably be handed down from generation to generation within the Peterson family. But while we will maintain stewardship of them, they will always and forever belong to God.

As do we.

Praise God that our faith, our lives and everything we are belong to God. We are a living heirloom because we are part of His family.

PRAYER: Thank you Heavenly Father for everything in this world. Thank you for adopting us into your family and giving us salvation as our eternal heirloom. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Is faith an heirloom that has been passed down through your family?

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Today's post is part of the Christian Writer's Blog Chain. Our theme for November is "heirloom." Please click on the links to the right to see what my friends have to say about this theme.

MEMORY VERSES

As a pastor’s kid I attended church every Sunday; went to Sunday school and youth group Sunday evenings. But one thing I never heard of until I was an adult was the idea of "memory verses."

It was when my own children attended Sunday School that they came home with a slip of paper each week, on which was written a Bible verse. They were to memorize it over the week and return the next Sunday to recite it. If they did, they got a prize.

My initial thinking was…hmmm... I’m not opposed to bribery in child raising. My point of question was the idea of having children memorize and recite a line of scripture by rote—without really knowing what it meant or the background from which it was taken.

I’ve gotten over that point of wonder.

The more I read scripture, the more verses seem to spout from my mind and my lips. The more I study the Bible, the more verses take hold in my heart and my soul.

I may not be able to cite the verse. Sometimes I can’t even cite the Book. Sometimes I’m not sure if it’s O.T. or N.T.

But the important thing is that those verses have become "memory verses." They have become part of who I am and more importantly—who I am in Christ.

They are a daily, continual and re-occurring reminder of God’s promises to me. Promises that He wrote in blood. Promises that are now and will always be part of who I am.

It took me a few decades to discover memory verses and a few more years to understand their importance. But, thank God, we’re never too old to learn. And remember.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for your Word written down and preserved for us. Thank you for our minds that seek to understand and remember what we learn about your character, your plan and your promises. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Did you grow up learning memory verses? How about now?

GOD'S LIBRARY

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)

It doesn’t matter how many times characters in a book mess up; how many people disappoint them; how many of their dreams crash and burn. If there’s a happy ending to the story, it’s a good book.

God’s library has many books. They all fit inside one binding we call the Bible.

It is filled with characters who mess up; people whose loved ones disappointed them; whose dreams crashed and burned. They were all people who loved God and were loved by Him. People just like us.

It’s comforting to know that the people God chose to imortalize in His books are mess ups; with disappointments and dreams gone bad. It’s comforting to know God loved them anyway and never gave up on bringing their hearts back to Him. It’s comforting to know that He included them in His happy ending. 

And that He then included us.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please remind me that I’m just like the characters in the Bible. Just like them, I’m imperfect and I mess up. Remind me though that you love me enough to have written me into your Book of Life and have included me in your happily ever after. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Who’s your favorite biblical mess-up? What lesson have you learned from him?

LEAP TO THE END

Today’s post is part of the Christian Writer’s blog chain. This month, our theme is “leap.” Please visit my friends’ blogs by clicking on the links in the right-hand column.

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Are you one of those folks who jump to the end of the book? Read the last chapter first? Try to take all the fun out of the journey?

Tsk. Tsk.

Books—fiction books at least—are meant to be read from the front cover to the back. In that order. The writer, after all, has spent many sweat-filled years, creating a story that leads you from scene to scene, character to character, plot twist to plot twist to give you the satisfying ending he designed.

So to you book jumpers, I say again, “tsk, tsk.”

But that’s for fiction.

You can sometimes get away with chapter jumping when reading non-fiction books. Non-fiction. That’s the real life stuff. The books filled with facts and history and truth.

Sometimes the author intends to lead you chapter-by-chapter to one ultimate truthful conclusion.

But sometimes each chapter can stand by itself.

Chapter 1: here’s something you need to know.

Chapter 27: If you want this, then…

Chapter 42: Here are 39 ways to…

Chapter 3: Don’t forget to…

With those books, each truth—each chapter—can stand alone. And each can stand as part of the whole.

Go ahead and jump to the end of those books. No tsk-ing required.

So it is with the Bible.

The Bible is our eternal non-fiction reference guide. Yet, it is written by the Master Author—with scenes in history, character development, plot twists and the ultimate ending that explains everything that came before the final chapter. And everything that comes after it.

Chapter 1: Here’s something you need to know. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Chapter 17: If you want this, then…follow Jesus.

Chapter 42: Here are 39 ways to…live like Jesus.

Chapter 3: Don’t forget to…obey God.

Conclusion, final chapter, Book of Revelation: God wins. So do we.

Go ahead and jump to the end of the book. In fact, LEAP to the end. It’s all good. It’s all very good. That’s why it’s called “The Good Book.”

Today—Ash Wednesday—begins the season of Lent. Lent is the 40 days prior to Easter, when Christ was resurrected. It is a time for reflection and penitence. And thanksgiving for God’s gift of salvation. Go ahead and leap for joy!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for the greatest book ever written. Thank you for writing it in such a way that it can lead us through life, step-by-step to a final conclusion. Or it can be read book-by-book as a daily reference guide. Reveal your truth to us each time we open it. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? When you read fiction, do I need to tsk-tsk you?

QUESTING WITH G.P.S.

Today’s post is part of the Christian Writer’s blog chain. This month, our theme is “Quest.” Please visit my friends’ blogs by clicking on the links in the right-hand column. 

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I was thinking about the theme—quest—when my word-play brain took over and I thought about the word “question.”  

Both quest and question have the same root “quaerere” to ask/seek (Middle English). The word “question” is “quest” + “tion.”  

The suffix “tion” turns a verb into a noun. Question: the seeking (of an answer). 

A quest involves a seeking; a planned, methodical searching. It can be an exciting adventure, too. But it is never helter-skelter or meandering.

It might involve flying by the seat of your pants though. That’s okay as long as your pants have a directional locator set to a trusted GPS. 

In the quest to know God, our trusted GPS is God’s Perfect Scripture. It teaches us about the character of God. It shows us examples of right (and wrong) living. It shares wisdom and hope; unity and peace; love and faith.

Scripture is our ultimate travel itinerary in our quest to know God; our cheat sheet to help us answer the question of our quest: who am I in God? God loves questions; questions that help us in our quest to know and love Him more.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for providing us with a GPS for our quest to know you. Please show us more of your glory today so that we will worship you more. Amen. 

WHAT ABOUT YOU? How do you use your GPS (God’s Perfect Scripture)? Are you a start-at-Genesis quest-er? A daily devotional quest-er? A book-by-book studious quest-er?