Some human vocabulary studies, that have been carried on since 1957, have revealed that humans can carry about 27,600 (plus or minus 800) vocabulary words in a life time as compared to a more modern touting of 100,000 to 160,000 vocabulary words. The average individual has a vocabulary of 8,000 to 10,000 words, and the mode of daily usage can increase or drastically decrease that number. Use it or lose it!
There are 8,674 different Hebrew words in the Bible, 5,624 different Greek words, and 12,142 different English words in the King James version of the Bible alone. When you take into consideration the conjugation and translation there is enough entertainment there to keep the imaginations of Hollywood screen writers busy warping the stories of the Bible for millenniums. Yet the "devoted" faith follower has a very low tolerance for reading the scriptures daily, let alone once a week in a Church service or Sunday School hour.
Did you know that "All Scripture" (the Bible) was given by the breath of God? ... Are you aware that "men set apart by God" were carried through the prophesy process by the Spirit of God to speak and write God's very word? Did you know that their choice to obey allowed them to be used for God's purpose?
Do you know that within the very written words of the Bible are packed all the necessary informational needs for time and eternity? Did you know those words are for our eternal rescue from sin's penalty and our daily deliverance from sin's persuasive pull? Have you discovered the creative hope filled treasures that capture our hearts, and will promise a final deliverance from sin's presence at that moment when we are in the Presence of "Love Letter Writer"?
Did you know that the "Lover" behind the writing is Jesus? Did you know that the scriptures are what Jesus guided the religious leaders of His day to study if they wanted to know eternal life, and He said "These scriptures speak of Me!!" The Scriptures, the written word of God, the Bible, are His words to draw us into a saved, direct, eternal, and extremely creative relationship with Him, the Living Word.
We all (for the most part) want to be recognized (in a good way) for our uniqueness. We all kind of want to do right (as long as it doesn't mess up our plans), but according to our terms we regulate our lives because that makes us unique, right? We are taught that God creates us all unique, and to motivate us to believe that truth, we may hear that not one snowflake is identical. However, every snow flake with its beautiful unique identity always ends up in a pile and then melts together, and the uniqueness disappears into a puddle of water.
"Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow, For what is our life, it is like a vapor that appears for a little time then vanishes away." James 4:14 This truth about the "end" is the part of our DNA, that we most often do not want to face. We all ache to be appreciated and not to be thrown on to the mound of mundane humanity.
We all observe that sooner than later people die, a hole is dug, a eulogy is pronounced, the body dropped and covered, a marker set up; and then the mourners move on to another grave site. Sorry for the cruel almost machine-like description of our end, but ... "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Romans 5:12 "For the wages of sin is death, BUT the gift of God is "eternal life" through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23
Why will so many spend their days trying to know "words" that are not God's words and some will even reduce the influence of God's Verbs in their lives by succumbing to the notion that the Bible is nothing more than just a "good book" or "the best of books". This belief started in the Eden of Creation when the serpent slithered in his negative two cents worth - suggesting alternative choices and total denial of the consequences in disobeying God's Word. "Has God really said that?" "You shall not surely die!" Genesis 4: 1-3
Your eternal life, Your uniqueness now, and your mark made on this planet will be only as effective as your impression connection with The Living Word, Jesus ...through His written word, the Bible ... molding and making you in His loving pleasure. Read the Word with a royal reception and let the Spirit of God, through His word, soak your soul with truths that constantly deliver you from the purposeless piles of human disconnect. Know Him, let him love you and truly live.
Freelance your life trying to know what is not His Word, without His word and you will be heading for an inevitable collision that you were doing everything to avoid... Cooperate daily with Love's correspondence or collide eventually with Love's unheeded warnings.
Read, listen, heed ... His Word ...Daily!
HLFA,
Jeff