Day 209: Word

John 1:1-18; 1 Chronicles 5-6; Zephaniah 2

The beginning of John always confused me a little bit. Why call Jesus "the Word? The reason was in the meaning and significance of the word 'Word.' To Jews, the 'word' was an agent of creation, as seen in Psalm 33:6: "The Lord made the heavens and the earth and everything in them by his word." The 'word' is the source of God's message, and God's standard of holiness: "I treasure your word above all else; it keeps me from sinning against you" (Psalm 119:11). The 'word' was something very significant and Jesus was the physical manifestation of that word. To the Greeks, who were also in the audience, it meant a principle of thought or reason. The Greeks were all about thinking and reasoning, and so the 'word' being God and being with God, was something they could begin to understand and connect with.

When we put our faith in The Lord, we don't just become servants or slaves or menial workers in the kingdom. We become his children. We have so much value in God's eyes that when we turn from our wicked and selfish ways, we are adopted as his very beloved children. To me, that means a lot, because I need to be loved dearly, and God loves me more than I could ever soak up from him.

In Chronicles it talks about a lot of generational stuff which is hard to read, but tucked in here and there are little bits of story that are interesting. In these chapters it talks about how some of the tribes started worshiping gods of the pagans, and so God sent a pagan army to capture them and lead them away. God's people disobeyed him, turned from him, and so they faced consequences. The same is true today. If we start worshipping money, eventually it will destroy us and leave us with nothing. If we start worshipping fame, it too will come up empty and we will be left as slaves. Only worshipping the true Lord will our worship be fruitful.

Zephaniah warns: God will "fiercely attack. Then every god on this earth will shrink to nothing, and everyone of every nation will bow down to [him], right where they are." First of all, I wouldn't mess around with God. He means business. Secondly, I am loved by this God who has authority over all the idols of this world. Wow. I'm glad I'm on God's side, in his family, and saved by his grace.