Daily Devotional

Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

As most of you know, I grew up on a farm in northern California. Our family farm was just 18 miles north of Chico in the northern part of the Sacramento valley. My parents moved to the farm in December of 1939 and never left. At heart, in many ways, I am still a farm kid. I like to grow things, drive tractors and dig in the dirt. Through the years I have enjoyed going to farm shows. In these shows there are manufacturers who make all kinds of claims about their products and equipment. At the shows you are shown pictures of how well their equipment works and you see written information on the successful use of their products. These claims have to be verified by your own personal use. You can have a piece of their equipment delivered to your farm for a field test. The field test shows if it really works in your particular application.  

In a spiritual sense, I have been working at field-testing biblical principles in my personal life, marriage, family and work. I am learning that these biblical principles work well when they are used consistently. When I apply them to my everyday life, I grow spiritually. For the Word of Christ to dwell in me, I must daily practice its truths and principles. God has directly revealed Himself to us through His Word, the Bible. He is not just calling me to be a Bible student but also to live what I learn. He is saying, “Let the Word of God live through your life.” As I learn to practice the truths of God’s Word, I begin to feel comfortable with God’s truth and it is beginning to change my life. This is expressed in the word “dwell” or “abide.” In other words, I start to feel at home with the Word because I am living out consistently its truths. There becomes no incongruity between what I say I believe and what I do. This is a life long journey that I must work at every moment. God wants His truth to take up permanent residence in my life so that it influences my every thought and action each day.

Would you join me today in learning to practice the truths and principles of God’s Word? Let us learn together how to let God’s truth deeply influence our hearts. This will cause us to think and do the things that glorify our Savior.
"New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation"
Posted in
Tagged with