Life's Daily Challenge Devotional

God and His Word

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," John 1:1.

To the one who honors God’s name,

"...For you have magnified Your Word above all Your name," Psalm 138:2.

A person's name is a very important thing. Everyone associates a person's name with who he is and what he does. His or her entire reputation is linked with a name.

Obviously, the name of Jesus is very important. The Bible says that it is the name that is above every other name. At that wonderful name, every knee must bow, and every tongue must confess that He is Lord. It makes sense then that the Lord would lift His Word up, even above His own name. For if one thing that He said lacked integrity, it would disrepute His name. God cannot tell, even a single lie, and maintain a good name. That is why the answer to every promise of God is "yes." (2Cor. 1:20)

The fact is that God and His Word are one in the same. What He says is in exact agreement with Who He is and what He does. There is no duplicity whatsoever because "The Lord our God, the Lord is one." (Duet. 6:4)

When our words fail, we reveal that our lives are still fragmented. Divided lives are devoid of the nature of God because God is one. Divided lives are doomed to fail. God wants to make us one within ourselves. His method of doing this is to make us one with Himself. As He conforms

us to the image of His Son, our self life begins to die. Deceptive strongholds are broken. Self-protective motives for speaking lies begin to dissipate. Light and darkness cannot cohabitate. Once God's light shines in our hearts, we must choose to walk toward the light or away from it.

The good new is, "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1John 1:7-8) When God reveals truth to our heart and we obey it, He destroys more of the flesh that separates us from Him. We become peaceful, whole, and united. We take on the character of love. Our words reveal the very nature of God to others because they are one with who we are, flowing from a heart that is united with God.

If there is duplicity between what we say and who we are in Christ, the answer is very simple. The root of the problem is the heart rather than the mouth. "For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body." (James 3:2) Wrong words not only damage our own integrity, they reflect poorly on the entire Christian family and on the name of our Lord. We must obey the call of the cross until our nature becomes so one with His that the only words that we speak are His. Even as God revealed His Word through His Son Jesus, He desires to reveal His Word to this world through us. The greatest sign that we are mature as believers is that our word and His are one.