The Word

Just how important is the Bible in our daily life? After all I know so many who never pick up a Bible unless they are going to church, and even then there are times they don't open it, instead they just listen to the preacher read the passages.
There are way too many verses for me to list them all, but I am going to hit a few, let's start in Ps. 119:11 "Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee". The Psalmist says the only way he can keep from sinning is to fill his heart with the Word of God. He goes on to say in verse 105 "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path". He says the scripture, gives him direction, shows him the correct way to go, and keeps him from stumbling. I know I stumble more than I should, so I know I need to spend more time in the scripture. He also says in verse 127 "I love thy commandments above gold; yea above fine gold", the word of God is more important to him than all the riches in the world. Actually a good deal of Ps. 119 deals with God's word, His commandments, and what it should mean to us. It would be worth us reading the entire chapter on a weekly basis, just to remind ourselves.
Now let's look at some of the things Jesus, and the apostles said about the scripture. Mt. 4:4 "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God". Chapter 24:35 "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away".
Turn all the way over to James ch 1 vs 22 "by ye doers of the word, and not hearers only". If you continue reading down to vs 25, you see that if a man is just a hearer, then he forgets what kind of man he is, but a doer shall be blessed. Continuing the theme of being a doer, look at 2 Tim. 4:2 "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine", vs 5 "But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry". Now what did Paul mean by "be instant in season, out of season"? Be ready at any time to share the gospel, not just on Sunday, or Wednesday night, or during a "revival", but at any time.
Now back up a couple of chapters, to ch 2, vs 15 "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth". "For whosever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in His own glory, and in His Father's and of the holy angels". Lk 9:26. We need to be constantly in the Word of God, not just reading and forgetting, but studying, learning, committing to memory so that it might lead us, it might show us the way, so we can do what it says so that we are not ashamed of it, and we are not ashamed of ourselves when we meet our LORD and Savior. I want you to notice I did not say memorize it. When I was in school, the night before a test I would memorize the material, and I was lucky if I could remember it the next day. But if I spent a few minutes each day, going over what we studied that day, plus what we had already gone over, the night before the test I did not have to open the book, and I would still know the material weeks later. I had learned the information, however when I memorized that is all I did, there was no learning taking place. We are commanded to learn, commanded to know the word of God. If we don't know the word, we can't do what it commands, funny how that circle works isn't it. Actually that is God's plan.
One more passage, one that is familiar, and one we just looked at a couple of days ago, but there is so much information in each verse, there are so many lessons to be learned from each one. Heb. 4:12-13 tells us that the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, it is quick and powerful enough to not only separate the soul and spirit, but to know the thoughts and intents of the heart. The scripture will illuminate, will make known our deepest thoughts, and our secret intentions. There is none of us that can hide anything from the eyes of God.
The word of God can be a lamp lighting our path, showing us the way, or it can be a sharp sword, dividing us asunder, the choice is ours. Do we study and learn what it says, or do we turn our back on God?