(This week Cheryl and I are working Disaster Response in the Little Rock area after a tornado. I am sharing devotions that I shared previously. This one was first shared April 7, 2021)

Yesterday I encouraged you to watch “The Chosen” and shared that they encouraged viewers to dig deeper into God’s Word for themselves. That is a worthy pursuit. Meditation and contemplation of God’s Word is God Himself speaking to our hearts and souls and minds.

Select a passage. Any passage. Read it. Read it again. Close your eyes and think about it. It doesn’t have to be long. Today I opened up my Bible to Colossians and read this passage:

¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Colossians 3:12–14)

There is so much there to make my day. God chose me. He sees me as holy because I believe in Jesus. I am dearly loved. There should be a response on my part. I should forgive others as I have been forgiven. My motivation is love, the same love God has shown me in Christ. This is more than a mental exercise. It is putting my faith into action, doing something because I know I have been forgiven. God’s Word guides and instructs me.

As you delve deeper into God’s Word, use the words of a song by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend as your prayer today:

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You  To receive the food of Your Holy Word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;  Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,
That the light of Christ may be seen today In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us   All Your purposes for Your glory.