Is Scripture Dead?

It's hard to be excited about a dead thing.

Consider that old pair of shoes tucked away in your closet, with the worn soles and strings literally hanging by a thread, now fit only for mowing and painting. Or your old cell phone--you know, the one with the cracked screen that slowed down to Windows 95 speeds before you replaced it. How often do you desire to go back to those dead devices? 

This concept applies to literature as well. Sure, outdated events (history) can be interesting--and even thrilling. Aged books have a certain look, feel, and smell that add to their charm. But outdated instruction? Lifeless commands? Old riddles? We're more likely to yawn and nod off than to be energized and motivated.

Gratefully, our Bible isn't a dead thing.

Scripture says, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart," (Hebrews 4:12). This encouragement should stir us to open the Scriptures to see what it is that God has to say to us today. I'll close with some thoughts on this verse from Philip Hughes:

"As the word of the living God it cannot fail itself to be living. And as God is the God who acts with power, His word cannot fail to be active and powerful. Its effectiveness derives from its source, which is God Himself, and from its purpose, which is the will of God; and neither God nor His will is ever subject to frustration and defeat...The essential character of the word of God in its inexhaustible vitality and dynamic efficacy is clearly defined in Isaiah 55:11, where God says through His prophet: 'So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.'"