Dear Faith Family, 

Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord, (Deuteronomy 8:3). 

Words mean things.  Right?  Our contemporary culture seems less likely to believe that statement and maybe less likely to care whether it is true or not.  I’m not even sure that we have the capacity to understand the ramifications of no longer believing that words mean things. 

Can I attempt an illustration?  Let’s just pretend that it is an election year.  Oh, wait, it is an election year!  Who knew?!  Tis the season of word flingation (the act of flinging – yes, I just made that up!).  Has the shock of political false-telling become so common place that we’ve lost hope in words actually meaning anything? 

And without words that mean anything, what else do we have?  Politicians promise the moon and when they fail to deliver, someone else is to blame.  Think about it.  A king is only as good as his word.  When words don’t mean anything then everything is subject to self-serving revision.  I think the book of Judges said it well: Everyone did what was right in his own eyes, (Judges 21:25). 

Ok.  Ok.  What’s the point?  Is this a gloom, despair, and agony on me blog?  Not so fast.  Such a dark curtain serves as a perfect backdrop against which the right kind of king might with blinding-brilliance shine.  Come with me to the wilderness of Matthew 4.  It’s almost an instant replay of Genesis 3.  Fascinating that Lucifer understood the value of undermining the meaning of words.  Did God actually say…, (Genesis 3:1). 

Same song, different verse, showed up thousands of years later in Matthew 4.  If you are the Son of God, (Matthew 4:3).  If?!  Understand that God had just said (there’s that Word thing): this is My beloved Son, (Matthew 3:17).  Satan was attacking the Word.  Isn’t it interesting that John introduced us to the eternal Christ referring to Him as the Word! 

So, under attack, in the wilderness, with 40 days of hunger, what did Jesus do when the enemy attempted to undermine the value of Word?  Jesus answered with the Word.  He declared the eternal value of the Word of God.  And, in so doing, He confirmed His identity as the King of kings!  King Jesus was / is as good as His Word! 

So then, in a world of words increasingly without meaning, to what / whom do you tether your identity?  Are you who He says you are in His Word?  Daughter of the King, son of the King?  Is the Word of God your sword of the Spirit?  Are you quick to fight off temptation with the very Word (that does mean things) of God?  Is your purpose directed daily from the Word of God? 

Shine King Jesus, shine, 
Pastor Karl