CUFI’s Word of The Week – The Word is Your Life

CUFI’s Word of The Week – The Word is Your Life

“When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law. For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life. And by this word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

— Deuteronomy 32:45-47

Have you ever used the phrase “I’m starving” when you were hungry? It’s likely you weren’t actually starving at that moment, but your desire and perceived need for food was so strong that you felt like you would die if you did not eat soon.

Just as food is nourishment for our body and necessary for our physical survival, the word of God is critical for our spiritual life and well-being. Moses reminded the Israelites as they prepared to enter the Promised Land that the word of God was their “life.” Centuries later, Jesus would remind the devil of this very truth: man does not live on bread alone, but on the very words that proceed from God’s mouth.

But it is important to notice that hearing God’s word was not what was a matter of life and death, and of possessing or not possessing the Land, for Israel. Obeying it was. Often, Christians today are malnourished because they do not know God’s word—but just as often, they are in spiritually critical condition because they hear it but do not obey it.

Hearing God’s word and not obeying it is disastrous to our spiritual health, our intimacy with God, and living out our purpose. This is why Paul commands us to “put to death the deeds of the flesh, and you will live” (Romans 8:13).

Make a commitment this week to choose one way to obey God each time you read or hear His word.