Hearing God’s Voice Part III
What is it about reading; either you love to read or you despise it. If you asked me to describe myself, I might say that I am a transformed reader. In elementary school I despised reading; I don’t know why maybe it was a confidence thing. Back when I was in grade school it was common for the teacher to break us apart into reading groups based on the student’s ability to read. The rabbits and roadrunners were the fast readers, the turtles and turkeys were the slow readers, and then there was me. All through elementary school I fell in with a couple classmates who weren’t even fast enough to be put in the group with the rest of the turkeys. Anyway, somehow and somewhere my desire to read changed. Do I read any faster? Well a little bit faster, but my interest to read is what keeps me reading. About ten years ago I came across a book that had helped nurture my growing desire to read. The book; “Read and Grow Rich” by Burke Hedges. Now some might be thinking as I did that this title is a disguise for one of those get rich quick schemes, but as the author presents in his book the whole gist of his book was to get people to read. His thesis was simple, the hidden power of reading can make you richer in all areas of your life. People write books for one reason which is to transfer knowledge. This leads me to recall a greeting I read on the signboard of a church I visited one day, “Many books inform but the Bible transforms.” Why does God’s story have such a profound impact on the lives of those who hear the voice of God in his word? When looking to the transforming power of God’s story how does the quality of your relationship with God affect your willingness to hear his voice? The Bible tells the story of God’s interaction with humankind. The Bible also tells the story of the faith shaping of a people and it is out of this story that the voice of God speaks to us today. Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” (John 14:23-24) God’s word transforms; therefore, God’s word must become something to you. The Bible is not a collection of stories about people and things that happened a long time ago in a place you may never travel to. God’s story is to comfort the reader to understand that if the God who is cared as much for people like Joseph, for David, and even Rahab, could not that same God have as much love and care for you? Many books inform but the Bible transforms. If you are ready to be transformed by God’s love as revealed in his story, then let me invite you not only to read the book of transformed lives, but to drop in someday and meet others whose lives have been transformed by God’s Story.