Thought I'd Pass This Along

Loving God Through His Word
by John Fischer

On Tuesday, March 1, 2005, 3,000 Orthodox and Hasidic Jews completed a 7½-year cycle of reading the ancient texts of the Talmud (which includes what Christians are familiar with as the Old Testament), and celebrated the feat with a service in the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. The practice is called Daf Yomi and it involves a rigorous program of reading, studying and discussing the ancient Jewish manuscript daily, one page a day for exactly 2,711 consecutive days. As well as ending one cycle, the celebration also starts another. According to the Los Angeles Times, 120,000 participated in similar events across North America, all tied together by live satellite television feeds.

I think that sometimes, in our emphasis on the grace of God and our freedom from the law, we have a tendency to miss what is good about the laws of God. We lose our sense of reverence for the word and love for the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments.

True: we will never achieve the desired effects by trying to follow the law, but at the same time, if we love God, we will also love His laws. David loved the laws of God and meditated on them constantly. Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is all about loving God’s laws. Christ came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. In other words, Christ embodied living according to the laws of God, so that if you truly follow Him, you will be fulfilling the law also. But nothing about the essence of the law has changed, only our relationship to it.

Why do we love the law of God? Because it is God’s communication to us—God’s word spoken, written down and passed down to us over centuries. Something to treasure here until we know God fully in eternity.

Hearing about these people celebrating their completion of the Daf Yomi reminds me of instances in the Old Testament when the children of Israel would assemble just to hear the word of God read to them, and they would stand in reverence for days.

You no doubt have access to a Bible within your reach right now. Hold it, if you can, and think of those who have lived and died to get it into your hands. Think of the treasure that it is—from God to you.

There are plans available to read your Bible through in a year by selected daily readings. My favorite access to this is the One Year Bible available in a number of translations. You can turn to the calendar day and find the selected readings for that day arranged for you. Stick with one of these plans, and you will have read the Bible through in a year.

You won’t be necessarily more spiritual for it. You won’t be necessarily more righteous. But I guarantee you will be more in love with God. And isn’t that what it’s all about?

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