Good morning Friends, I’m sure our week went well. Yes I thought the last post would be the final episode of the Word series, but like I wrote earlier that things may change… And I’m glad to announce that they really did change, because we shall continue today. Today however will be our final episode on the Word Series, by God’s Grace. We will be considering a very major role the Word of God plays in our lives if we choose to place it at the core and center of our dominant consciousness. Balanced By the Word is the theme for today’s post, and the purpose of this post is to bring us to a point where we see and acknowledge the Word as our most vital resource for living our lives to the full.
I once heard a powerful statement from one of my friends, she said “the devil works at the extremes”. I couldn’t agree further. I find that to be true because the devil has nothing particularly new he’s bringing to the scene of life, all he does however is to pervert what God has done. He takes a concept which in itself is good if applied properly, and then drives it to the extreme. So he takes a healthy self esteem and turns it into pride, he takes care and affection and turns it into obsession, turns a desire into an addiction, turns humility into stupidity and weakness, turns duty of care into busybody and gossip, turns rebuke to condemnation, turns correction to criticism, turns honour to hero worship, turns respect to dread, and the list is endless. He couldn’t affect any man negatively without twisting a reality to an extreme version.
Eph 6:13(kjv) Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with TRUTH…
… And so Paul here is urging every believer in Ephesus to take on the whole armor of Christ, why? So they can STAND… Trust me, no one can stand without balance. You can’t do anything worth the while without your balance. Your balance is key to your survival. When a man is hit on a spot that makes him lose his balance, one can be sure he has lost the fight already. God’s Word is our primary instrument for balance. Exactly why verse 13 begins listing the armour by FIRST mentioning the belt of TRUTH. The Word of God is the compendium of God’s ageless, tireless and ceaseless truth. Psalms 119:89.
John 17:17(kjv) Sanctify them through thy truth: thy WORD is TRUTH.
For every soldier who goes to the battle field, his belt isn’t for fashion or extra accessory and that’s why you don’t find the trendy versions of such belts. The belts are usually big and tough, they were not made to match your belt and shoe, or to discipline your erring child, they were designed for balance… To keep you alive. A soldier without his belt runs the risk of being twisted and broken easily on the battle field, because he has no fulcrum upon which his whole body is fit and hinged. When a man is not a student of the Word of God, every persuasive chant makes sense to him. He has no inner filter with which he sieves the content of what is being passed across, no matter who is passing it across. He is tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, cannot be stable with his perceptions and notions of God, except what he is fed with. Paul didn’t enjoy the kind of church that always nodded to every of his statements, he preferred the ones who would return home and check out whether those things He said were true indeed. Every leader must take a cue from that.
Acts 17:11(kjv) These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
When a person is not totally influenced by his personal study and understanding of God’s Word, it is practically impossible for such a person to be balanced in every area of his/her life. When he listens to the news about the stock market and economy, he is confused and worried about the future, and then he sees another friend thriving in a business, he ventures into it headlong without prior analysis and planning, he sees a lady he likes, he goes to her asking her out already, and then after a while he breaks up, he changes churches like an accessory comparing one church to the other, he has not kept a stable relationship (all forms) for longer than 1 year, his life is full of imbalance, impatience, lack of stability and steady growth … This might play out in several ways with different people, depending on the situation in particular, but the principle stays true; Balance is impossible without the Word of God.
Eph 4:14(kjv) That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the TRUTH in love, may GROW up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
The belt stays at the center of the body, half way up, half way down, it holds everything together. In fact for a soldier it’s more graphical, almost all his artillery and mobile ammunition is connected to his jacket which is tied to his belt. His balance depends on it. Let the Word of God be at the center of your life, let it hold all things together. Chinua Achebe popularly wrote that “things fall apart, when the center no longer holds”. Let the center of your life be The Word. You will be shocked how the influenced of The Word in your life will affect ALL other areas of your life as you gain mastery over life and its vicissitudes. I’m glad to announce to you that we have come to the end of the Word Series… For now 🙂
Have a fabulous weekend ahead.
