The Word

-Chapter One-

C.J. Mahaney encourages and instructs Christians to take the Bible as a whole and make it the standard by which they live by. The Bible is the inspired Word of God and is meant to be the instruction manual for God's people. Cutting sections out of the Bible, or pasting new ones in, is absolutely unacceptable and leads only to wasted lives. 

The danger of "editing" the perfect Word of God is decline. God desires for His people to enjoy life, but He does not desire for them to waste their lives. He wants them to follow the words of Jesus in Mark 10:45:

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve..."

God placed man here not so He could serve them, but so that they could serve Him. That service is not only purposeful, it is joyful, fulfilling, and desirable. 

I finished this chapter with three thoughts: 

I need to be careful not to cut and paste to make my own Bible.

 I need to be in the Word daily, that I may know the Truth and discern that which is not true.

I need to live out the concepts the Lord is teaching me.