There is no replacement for the education that comes from first-hand experience. For example, when a stranger tells me about something that I need to buy, I may not believe them. But if a friend recommends a product, I am much more likely to believe them and purchase it. You cannot argue with first-hand personal experience. When it comes to Scripture, first-hand experience is one of the ways we can be sure of its reliability. The way it has changed and moved us is personal, a first-hand experience that is reliable and can be trusted. After all, it is active, alive, and changes lives today.
The writer of Hebrews made sure that his readers knew that God’s word is alive in Hebrews chapter 4. “For the word of God is alive and powerful,” he wrote (verse 12). Then he explained what he meant by the words “alive” and “powerful.” “It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires” (verse 12). The Bible is not stagnant. It is alive. It is active. Because it is alive, it changes us. This is why you can read the same verse over and over again and learn something different every time. God’s word moves us.
Because the Bible is active, no time spent reading our Bibles will ever be “wasted.” God uses His word to change us from the inside out. This means that when we are not reading our Bibles, we are missing out on the opportunity to be changed and molded into the people God created us to be. Make no mistake. The Bible is no ordinary book. It is alive. It is active. When we read it, God works, changes, and shapes us every time. This life change is proof of Scripture’s reliability. When we read it, God moves and works in our lives. What a gift we have in His word!
How has Scripture changed your life? What is your first-hand experience studying and reading the Bible? Write about how Scripture has changed your life. Let this be a reminder to you that Scripture is reliable and can be trusted.
God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said,
“In my anger I took an oath:
‘They will never enter my place of rest,’”
even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.” But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”
So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:
“Today when you hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts.”
Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. So there is a special rest[f] still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.
For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.
So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
