When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you--they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”** Deuteronomy 32:45-47 (NIV)**
God never goes against His Word. It is His revealed will to His children and it never changes. We are to be following His precepts and teaching our children to follow them as well. If we are not faithful in this great endeavor, it is doubtful that they will be found faithful either. If it is not important to us, more often than not, it will not be important to them. Yet, Moses writes that these words are not to be mere idle words for us – they are to be our life. Also, we may be able to speak them but if we do not seek to live by them, it is doubtful that we truly believe it. We live what we truly believe to be true.
It is quite easy to espouse words – to talk the talk, so to speak. Yet, talk is cheap but the proof in the pudding is a changed life. It is always a changed life. A life that is marked by the Word of God. And it is to be a persistently changing life as we grow and become more and more conformed into the image of Jesus. We learn by degrees and we never get there until we are home with the Lord, Amen? Yet, believers are to be in process. If we are still living and breathing He is still working on us.
God’s Word is also a rich storehouse of costly treasures – more precious than pure gold. It contains many precepts and promises that enrich our souls as well as bring us great consolation. It is the ultimate “Paraklesis” – consolation and comfort - keeping us from sinking when circumstances like billows seek to sink our weary souls. Indeed, the believer robs their selves of much peace when Scripture is disregarded and not lived by.
God does not look lightly when His Word is being mishandled either. We are to be as the Bereans and seek to see if what we hear lines up with God’s revealed Truth in Scripture before we make it into a core value. As Paul told his beloved Timothy he tells us in 2 Timothy 2:15 (NIV): Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.** Psalms 119:9-11 (NIV)**