The words of Christ are unlike all others. He says they are spirit and life. In one of his parables, he calls them seeds. Seeds may look small and dull beside rare gems, yet they contain life. Plant them, and they grow. So it is with Christ’s words. Other sayings may be brilliant or eloquent, yet they do not change the world. Christ’s words, planted in human hearts, bring new life, new character, new homes filled with grace.
It is said that when the Danish sculptor Thorvaldsen carried back from Italy the wonderful pieces of statuary which he had carved in that sunny land, the stones were wrapped in straw. They were unwrapped in the artist’s garden, and the straw was scattered all about the place. Next summer, when the warm rains came, there grew up everywhere countless multitudes of flowers that never had grown there before. The seeds had been in the straw that was wrapped about the pieces of marble, and now in far-north Denmark, Italian flowers grew in great profusion and beauty.
In a similar way, the Bible — God’s Word — carries heavenly seeds. Wherever it is opened, these seeds take root, producing heavenly fruit in earthly lives. No other book transforms character as Scripture does. Literature can refine and educate, but it cannot make a life godly or loving. Those who read the Bible reverently and steadily find their character reshaped. Jesus’ words are indeed spirit and life.
Psalm 19 gives a vivid picture of Scripture’s effect: it revives the soul, gives wisdom, brings joy, enlightens the eyes, warns against danger, and brings great reward. It is more precious than gold and sweeter than honey. “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul… The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart… By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”
The Bible is the most wonderful of books. All we know of God comes from it. Yet some are hesitant to be seen reading it, though they freely display the best literature of the world. They do not realize that no book gives deeper wisdom than Scripture. It tells the truth about God, about human nature, about life and death, about duty and destiny.
The Words of life give joy to the heart. This is a sorrowful world; science and art cannot teach us how to be truly glad. Scripture does. It speaks comfort into grief and turns sorrow toward hope. There is no burden for which the Bible does not offer strength and consolation.
The Words of life also comfort. A book without comfort would fail most people, for life brings suffering. You may not need consolation today, but many around you do. How barren Scripture would be if it offered only commands and doctrines without tenderness for the brokenhearted. But God filled it with encouragement for weary souls. Many, however, shut their eyes to this comfort and live as though no light shines for them. It is as if a great sky of brightness waits to pour into their lives, yet they admit only a dim ray through a cracked windowpane. God does not desire us to walk through life unconsoled when his boundless comfort stands waiting.
The Words of life build character. Life’s great task is to grow into Christ’s beauty and to learn God’s will. Nothing but the divine Word can truly shape us into this likeness. Paul urges, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” We can close our hearts to it, or we can freely open the doors and let it make its home within us. God’s Word must dwell in us, not merely visit like a bird that flies in for a moment and disappears.
All Scripture is valuable. Paul says it is inspired and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction in right living. Some parts are more directly devotional than others, yet every Word of God has its purpose. Even the seemingly obscure passages have their place in the great whole of divine truth.
A simple story shows how easily Scripture can be neglected. A mother once asked her grown children where their Bibles were. One thought his was in a trunk in the storeroom; another believed hers was upstairs in a drawer. What good were these unread Bibles to their daily lives? In the Old Testament, the Book of the Law was once lost — lost even in the temple itself. When it was rediscovered and read, the people wept for their neglect and returned to God’s ways, and revival followed.
Would it not be blessed if we searched out our unused Bibles, opened them again, and listened to God’s voice? Christ’s Word living in us awakens songs of joy. Paul speaks often of joy as the mark of Christian life; Scripture plants hymns and psalms in a believer’s soul.
The life of Christ was perfect: never discouraged, never impatient, never complaining, never worried, never yielding to temptation. His Word, dwelling in us, shapes us toward this same spirit.
J. R. Miller (1840-1912) was a pastor and former editorial superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication from 1880 to 1911. His works are now in the public domain. This is an edited version of his original.
