William Wordsworth once advised aspiring writers to "fill your paper with the breathings of your heart." He was advising us, in effect, to write with passion. To be real and raw, and let our true emotions come out. Sometimes that can be difficult. It can be painful. It requires vulnerability, letting people see into your innermost soul. But that's the only way that the words you write will affect people, will move them, will have a lasting impression on them.
After I read this quote, I started thinking. God's word does nothing if not affect people. It does nothing if not move them. Surely the Bible, which is the most-sold book in the history of the world, must have some sort of lasting impression on its readers, to inspire them to forsake their families, their careers, and sometimes even their lives, for the sake of what they find in between its pages. Doesn't this imply that God, too, has filled the Bible with the breathings of His heart? That He has saturated its pages with the passion of His true emotions?
So I opened my Bible, looking for this passion. I intentionally went to a book that's not generally considered to be very "passionate". I figured that if the entire Bible came from God's lips, then it was fair to assume that the entire Bible should bear witness to His passion.
Almost immediately, I found a passage in which God is talking to the Israelites, speaking of their future with Him. I was struck by what it said. It was because of God's mighty love for His people, He said, that He redeemed them from a life of slavery under the Egyptians. It was because of His great love for them, that He protected them, the 'fewest of peoples,' from the ravages of their aggressive neighbors. It is because of His great love for them, that He has promised to keep His covenant with His people for a thousand generations.
It is true that there are times in the Bible when God does not seem the most loving of Beings. But that is not the whole story. When you are overwhelmed by life, and when you feel like no one, not even God Himself, is on your side, I would encourage you to go to your Bible with a new perspective. Look for the breathings of His heart, the passions of His emotions. I think you will find a different story - one that says that He loves you unconditionally, and will never leave you nor forsake you. Never. Never, my friends, is a very long time.
After I read this quote, I started thinking. God's word does nothing if not affect people. It does nothing if not move them. Surely the Bible, which is the most-sold book in the history of the world, must have some sort of lasting impression on its readers, to inspire them to forsake their families, their careers, and sometimes even their lives, for the sake of what they find in between its pages. Doesn't this imply that God, too, has filled the Bible with the breathings of His heart? That He has saturated its pages with the passion of His true emotions?
So I opened my Bible, looking for this passion. I intentionally went to a book that's not generally considered to be very "passionate". I figured that if the entire Bible came from God's lips, then it was fair to assume that the entire Bible should bear witness to His passion.
Almost immediately, I found a passage in which God is talking to the Israelites, speaking of their future with Him. I was struck by what it said. It was because of God's mighty love for His people, He said, that He redeemed them from a life of slavery under the Egyptians. It was because of His great love for them, that He protected them, the 'fewest of peoples,' from the ravages of their aggressive neighbors. It is because of His great love for them, that He has promised to keep His covenant with His people for a thousand generations.
It is true that there are times in the Bible when God does not seem the most loving of Beings. But that is not the whole story. When you are overwhelmed by life, and when you feel like no one, not even God Himself, is on your side, I would encourage you to go to your Bible with a new perspective. Look for the breathings of His heart, the passions of His emotions. I think you will find a different story - one that says that He loves you unconditionally, and will never leave you nor forsake you. Never. Never, my friends, is a very long time.
Deuteronomy 7:7-9
The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.
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