497. The Word Of The Day

“Do you ever play any games on your cell phone?” Stan asked me one morning.

“A little,” I responded.  “Sometimes.  Why do you ask?”

“I had coffee yesterday with someone who is really into playing some sort of word game on his phone.  It’s over the internet and he plays with friends he knows, and with some people he doesn’t know, but considers them friends.”

“Anything wrong with that?” I asked.

“I don’t think so,” Stan replied.  “Playing that sort of game is not for me, but I guess it’s okay for him.”

“However,” he continued, he did say something about it that really caught my attention.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“He said that just about everyday he gets an email with something called ‘The Word of The Day’.  I think that if he uses that word in a game he gets extra points or something like that.  I’m not sure about that, but it did open an opportunity to talk about the words that are important to me each day.”

“How so?” I responded.

“Well, in the first instance,” Stan replied, “Jesus is described as the Word at the beginning of John’s gospel.  Secondly, Matthew records Jesus as saying that His words will not pass away, even though everything else will.”

Continuing, Stan said, “If I focus on Jesus and what He says as the ‘word of the day’ for me, I think I will be moving in the right direction.  The direction of knowing God more intimately in an ever-deepening relationship.”

“And,” he concluded, “as we have talked about before, Jesus is recorded in John 17:3 as saying that knowing God the Father and His Son is what eternal life is all about.”

“It’s good for me to keep in mind Who is the Word, and what word of each day is to be my focus!”

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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  John 1:1.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.  Matthew 24:35.

Prayer:  Thank you, Father, for the Word you sent into the world to provide the way to you for eternity when it is time.  Thank you for the life, death, and resurrection of the Word.  Thank you, too, that you give me your words to pursue knowing you on this side of eternity.  I confess that too often I do not focus on you and what you say.  Please forgive me.  And please lead me in knowing you and your word as deeply as humanly possible.  Not just knowing, but also applying, all you have for me to apply in my life so that I am only who and what you intend.  Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

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Things to think (and journal) about:

1.  What is your biggest take-away from this devotional?

2.  What does this devotional say about God and about us as His people?

3.  What is God saying to you to do personally?

4.  Who can you share this with to make a difference?

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Comments, questions, suggestions, and the like can be addressed to The Storyteller at: waiting4thetrain@gmail.com.