When we read God’s word it can become a catalyst for us to take action in service of the Kingdom of heaven. If we allow the words we read to reach into our inner thoughts and feelings and to stir within us a response to what we read. The Holy Spirit also takes the words we read and causes them to become evidenced in our lives. Another way of putting it is that through the Holy Spirit the word is lived out through our actions and words. We then become the demonstration of the very word we have read. However we are warned not to just be hearers of the word simply taking it in but never acting upon it! No the challenge is to hear and to put into action the teaching we receive so that we demonstrate the word. To anyone who observes this happening through our lives it is the message of hope, the good news, presented in the lives that we live before those around us. It is a huge challenge to do this, especially when we consider that we are all born in sin and shaped in iniquity (we are broken people). We need God’s help so much to make His word a living reality in our lives. This process of becoming the living demonstration of God’s word is done in partnership with Him. It is a work of grace that can only occur when we are surrendered to God through His Son Jesus Christ. The areas of our lives that remain un-surrendered remain unaffected by God’s word and undermine the message of good news and hope that we want to share with others. It is so important that we surrender our whole life and not just the easy parts so that God by His Holy Spirit can have His complete work in us and that others can read our lifestyle, life choices, actions and responses and in so doing receive the message of the Kingdom of heaven. Otherwise we present a conflicting message of compromise, a half in half out message of salvation. It isn't simply a matter of behaving well in front of others, because even in the unspoken reactions of every day life we give away so much of who we are and what we carry within us. It is the little moments when either our trust in God is evident or not, when our peace is in view or not and so on. We can say so much and do so much to be seen but there is more to how people read us than that. Fear, anger, disappointment, and so many other traits leave an impression to others even when they are not on display. Our challenge then is to be what God intended us to be by allowing His word to permeate our being so that becomes the very substance of our lives. Just remember this is a journey and we progress in it by growing in His word, as the Apostle Paul said, Philippians 3v12 "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me."
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