Image-bearing, Word Honoring, Life Giving (Lent 36, 2023)

The Bible isn’t like any other book on your shelf. It is life itself. Sometimes people use a BIBLE acronym standing for “Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth.” I can’t help but think that Jesus must have viewed His Word that way.

He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life … Image-bearing and Word-honoring and Life-Giving. He is the Word of God made flesh, and He proved in His last words upon this earth that He meant every word of it when He gave us instruction about His Word.

Deuteronomy 32:45 When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46 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. 47 They are not just idle words for you– they are your life.

John 6:63 The words I have spoken to you– they are full of the Spirit and life.

Knowing He was going to die, He honored the Fifth Commandment for His mother Mary and His Father God. He made sure His mother was cared for in the tradition of the Jews as He was the oldest of Mary’s sons. Jesus’ other family members thought He was out of His mind, so Jesus reached out to a true brother, one who loved, a faithful disciple.

“When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home” John 19:26-27.

Focus for Lent: Seeing the high value Jesus placed on obeying Scripture, aim to do the same in your life.

Questions for further thought:

If Jesus describes His Word as full of the Spirit and life, why do so many dismiss the Bible as no longer relevant or worth obeying?

Do we view all Ten Commandments as God’s actual Commandments or just helpful suggestions? Is it easier to obey the “table” Commandments 1-5 or the ones pertaining to our treatment of our fellow Image-bearers (Commandments 6-10)? View the Commandments in Exodus 20.

Do you ever feel like obeying 1-5 is more important than obeying 6-10?

Prayer: Father God, please help me to remember that all Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that we might be equipped for every good work as Your servants. Help me to realize that it is unhelpful and wrong for my picking and choosing among Your Word, treating it like a buffet instead of like Your clear instructions for how to live. Please forgive me Lord. I pray that You will renew a strong desire in me to honor Your Word in all things. They are words of life, words of power, and words of truth! Thank You for Jesus who is the Word made flesh. Thank You for His sacrifice. Help me to appreciate all these things at all times, Lord. I humble myself with an attitude of gratitude during this Holy Week and always for the great things You have done! Amen.

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2023 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations. We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
Last year’s devotionals, Revelation in 40 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.