Okay, let’s be real together here. How many times have you read your Bible just to cross it off your list? Have there been days where you feel like your Jesus time has become more like a daily chore rather than a deep desire to grow and be with Him? Yes? Well, friend, me too.
I have plenty of days where I want to read my Bible, but I have 1,001 other things going on as well. I open my Bible, I read a chapter, and boom check mark. Stick my Bible back on the shelf and call it good for the day. Yet, sometimes I forget what I just read the instant I close the cover. Can you relate?
One piece of Scripture that has been stuck in my mind lately is Deuteronomy 11:18.
Imprint these words of mine on your hearts and minds, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads. (CSB)
We are to have God’s words written on our hearts. Yes, there will be seasons where we may feel dull and read the Word to cross it off our list of things to do. But the key is not just reading Scripture but rather meditating on it, letting it sit and simmer in our minds and hearts in a way that transforms us and the way we live out our lives.
There are plenty of verses that share this same idea of writing God’s commands on our hearts.
Psalm 40:8 and 119:11
Proverbs 7:3
Colossians 3:16
Hebrews 8:10 and 10:16
Here is the key that I am learning…we can read the Bible and call it a day, but what will we benefit from this? God’s Word is alive and active (just as Hebrews 4:12 describes it). It has the power to transform our hearts and minds as we soak up the words that we read.
Now you may be wondering, hmm what exactly does it mean to write the Word of God on my heart?
I like to think about it as living God’s Word out through our daily actions. We can live out Scripture in the way that we interact and love others, the way that we address difficult situations with grace and truth, in the way that we serve and work not for recognition but rather unto God’s name, and there are many other examples.
Here is the really cool thing…as we are digging into the Bible and have a desire to grow, the Holy Spirit will remind us of different passages throughout our day to day tasks. I cannot tell you how many times I have wanted to let my frustration or stress get the best of me, and then the Spirit nudges me to bite my tongue or cast my cares to Jesus through a passage I had just recently read. Maybe you have had similar situations where you are in a tough place and want to respond in a certain way, but then feel the Holy Spirit convict you by placing a verse on your heart.
This is what writing the Word of God on our hearts looks like. Not just reading the Bible then boom, shut the book and place it back on its spot on the coffee table next to you. But allow the Words to brew in your mind, be imprinted on your heart, and transform your everyday life.
Will you let the power of God’s Word be written on your heart and transform your way of living?
Journey to Dominican 