The Bible: God's Love Letter

Read This: “but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:2

Think: Over the years my kids have made little crafts for me in their preschool and Sunday school classes: a short poem signed with a thumb print or a heart cluttered with misplaced stickers and glitter. Sweet as those treasures still are to me, they don’t compare to how my heart moved when I got my first “i luv u” note written in large colorful letters with a hand drawn picture of my daughter and I. Unprompted and spontaneous, those three little words (okay, one word and two letters) meant so much because they came from the heart.

There’s something about a person’s own words put to paper that has the power to reach deep into our hearts. It doesn’t have to be poetic, eloquent, or pretty, just truthful and sincere. The Bible is God’s letter to us. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, it was written down by people handpicked by God for that specific purpose. Through the Bible, God chose to reveal himself to us in written form so that we would be able to read it again and again, gaining an ever deeper understanding of who he is and his love for us. He wrote to us so that we would know his heart and his love for us.

But sometimes we’re all guilty of neglecting God’s words. The Bible gets a little dusty or we read it out of obligation instead of being intentional. We may listen to sermons, podcasts, and Christian radio stations, and read great books about the Bible without really studying it ourselves. We might even feel like all we do is learn about the Bible, when in reality we haven’t opened it in weeks. Christian resources are great when they supplement God’s word, but not when they replace it.

The Bible is God’s letter to us—his words. In Deuteronomy 6:6-7 God said, “And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart, and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Maybe it takes a little more effort, and it’s not always easy to understand, but those are his words for us. In the same way a card is no replacement for the words that come from your heart; remember that just reading what someone else has to say about the Bible can never have the same impact as studying God’s word for yourself.

Ask: What’s the best card you ever received? What made it so special? What do you appreciate most about the Bible? How do you study God’s Word best?

Pray: Ask God to make you a better student of his Word so that you can love him more and make his love known.