Friday night at LRW we heard a fantastic speaker.  She opened with Hebrews 4:12.  The verse jumped off the page. 

I listed this verse on an index card.  I couldn’t wait to tear into the verse and devour every ounce of its meaning.  Remember – this weekend was all about studying God’s word.  There was not a shortage of reference material!  Every commentary, Greek word, Hebrew word, dictionary, or concordance was available!  I was in heaven!  I enjoyed my teacher, Buffy.  Her excitement was precious.  Her eyes sparkled with delight at learning more about God’s Word.

I zeroed in on the word of God is living.  That is easy enough to understand.  The word of God is not dead – it lives.  I loved the meat of the word living.

The Greek word for living is Zao; pronounced zo (long o).  It means to live.  Okay.  Nothing jumping off the page there.  Well – Zao is also from the Greek word zeo.  This is where is gets fun! (Thanks, Buffy!)

Zeo means to bubble.  It is also connected to the word zelos, which is where we get our word zeal.  It is the imitation of the sound of boiling water.  By breaking down one word, I saw that scripture was trying to convey through Hebrews 4:12 that the word of God is living – it is bubbling with zeal with the warming sound of boiling water.  It is moving.  It is active.  It is charged!  Our English language loses so much when translating the original Greek and Hebrew.

I see God’s message for me today as this:  His Word, the Bible, is alive.  It is as alive today as it was the moment God’s holy secretaries put the words to stone tablet and then to parchment.  The Word of God carries as much power today as it did thousands of years ago.  If the Word of God is living in me, I should be walking with a bubbly zeal!  I should be warming everyone around me with my boiling excitement for God’s Word.

NMgirls:  Is God’s word alive for you?  Do you read scripture at face value or do you see the significance of really reading each word?  Do you see what we miss out on when we skim through His word instead of meditating on it?  God showed me at LRW that He was going to give me a word alright!  He was giving me His Word – the Word He put together for me and you a very long time ago.  We just had to read it and believe!