Live Out God’s Word

At She Reads Truth HQ, we love a fun question. “What’s the best french fry in town?” (majority answer: Burger Up in 12 South) or “If you had a $500 gift card to any store, where would you go?” (majority answer: Anthropologie). Whether as an icebreaker when new faces join our team or as a way to bond around the office, many of us have lists compiled with silly questions on the off chance we have a moment to ask, hear everyone’s answers, and have some fun together.

But can you imagine what would happen if someone asked a question and there was NO response? Maybe you’d hear the shuffle of shifting seats and an occasional cough, and you’d see people folding their arms and averting their eyes. Or worse, what if you asked a question and everyone in the room acted like they didn’t hear you, going on with normal conversation and moving around as if you’d never spoken.

When we read God’s Word without the curiosity and conviction about how it can change our lives, we can look a lot like that. Being aware of how we are responding to God’s Word with our actions is a good place to start if we want our lives to look like Jesus’s.

Thankfully, we don’t do this alone. Matthew 4 records an account of Jesus’s temptation in the desert; as the enemy was using the scriptures to tempt Jesus, it was Jesus’s intimate knowledge of God’s Word and His heart of devoted obedience to God that equipped Him to withstand the devil’s manipulation. Because God has shown us His love through His Son, we have a wholly divine and perfectly human Savior who has given us His power to live out His example in our own lives (Hebrews 4:14–16). And as James 1 promises, the work of following God will be blessed because it is in being doers of the Word that allows God to mold us into the kind of people He calls us to be.

In whatever way God prompts you today, be emboldened to ask Him how you can live according to His Word. Surrender to Him the fear that pain or the cost of living by His wisdom isn’t something you’re capable of, because Psalm 119:11 teaches that treasuring the Word in our hearts keeps us from sin. We can step toward God’s grace and love instead! Indeed, may the word of Christ dwell richly among us all (Colossians 3:16).