For many years I have been an avid reader of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic trilogy The Lord of the Rings. I have read it at least seven times since my college days. Each time I breathe the atmosphere of Tolkein's world, Middle Earth. Frodo and Gandalf and I renew our old friendship as we undertake our journey again and again across mountain and fen on the perilous quest to destroy the evil power of Mordor. That is the wonder of a good book, and the power of the written word.
Much later when I became a Christian through reading C. S. Lewis' book Mere Christianity, I was delighted to discover that Lewis and Tolkien had been great friends, and had each been simultaneously working on their greatest works, Lewis writing his Chronicles of Narnia while Tolkien labored on the ring trilogy.
There is another book I have come to love, nay, reverence, and that is the Book of Books. This marvelous Bible we have received is no ordinary book. It has a supernatural power beyond the greatest enchantment of the greatest work of man's literature. For when I read this Book, I find instead it is reading me. The Author of Life comes out of the pages of the Bible and confronts me face-to-face. It is His Book. It is His Word, alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, able to pierce even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.
Two thousand years ago in the tiny insignificant village of Nazareth the Word became flesh to dwell among us. Words were spoken to a simple Jewish girl - "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God...for no word of God shall be void of power."
But God does not go around impregnating women against their will. We have a law against that despicable crime. Mary was given a choice, and the moment she responded, "Be it done to me according to your word," One was conceived in her who changed the course of history forever, the Holy Child Jesus, God in human flesh.
Despite the marvelous life-giving power of the Word of God, most people still live barren, unfruitful lives. How can this be, you say? First of all, many have not had the Word of God shared with them, and that is the Christian's fault. However, many more have been surrounded all their lives by the testimony of the Word and have never said yes.
As one reads the Bible or hears it spoken, God Himself comes out of the pages and speaks words of eternal life to us. All that is required of us is to say, "Be it done to me according to Your Word." The moment that happens, a new creation is conceived in us who is a holy child of the Most High. As the Bible says, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh...."
Please allow the Word of God to become fleshed out in your life. You'll never be the same.
@ copyright 1998 by Scott H. Northrup. All rights reserved.