The Value of God’s Word
December 11, 2025 | by: Dale Thiele | 0 Comments
Posted in: Pastoral Encouragement
I have made it a practice in my ministry on an annual basis to highlight the importance of the Word of God as a means of grace. If we do not attend to the word of God “with diligence, preparation, and prayer; receive it with faith and love, lay it up in our hearts, and practice it in our lives” (WSC 90), we short circuit God’s grace in our lives. I would be failing as a shepherd if I was not leading the flock of Christ to the green pastures of God’s word. So, hear my annual appeal afresh.
Let me start with a foundational presupposition. I believe that we all make time for the things we value. Therefore, our commitment to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly (Col. 3:16) is not a question of how busy we are, but a question of what we value. The psalmist says, “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day” (119:97). Do you see that connection? The psalmist loves God’s word (“law” in Ps. 119 speaks not particularly of a list of rules but of God’s covenant with his people; I think it is safe to hear this word encompassing the entirety of God’s word, which centers of Christ as the covenant keeper and sealer). His love energizes his meditation “all the day.” He understands that there is something valuable about God’s word, and that motivates the daily discipline of meditation. That word “discipline,” however, is deceptive because it carries a connotation of sacrifice. I do not believe the psalmist would count his daily activity of meditation a sacrifice. It is a delight and benefit.
So, my first task is to woo your heart, and mine, to treasure God’s word as we ought. If we treasure God’s word, the “disciplines” of reading, memorizing, and meditating will not feel like a burden but a gateway to blessing. So, how can we join the psalmist in saying, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (119:103)?
First, God’s word brings us Jesus Christ. Jesus confronted the religious leaders of his day by saying, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (Jn. 5:39-40). The implication is that if one faithfully hears the Scriptures, he will come to find Christ. This aligns with what Paul wrote to Timothy, “From childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). Our faith, which unites us to Christ and the salvation he has procured, “comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17).
Theologians call this the necessity of Scripture. Without the written word of God, we would not know God in his full character, his will, his sacrificial love, his plan of redemption through Christ, nor the hope of eternal life. Through Scripture we can know and rest in Christ alone for salvation. Since Christ is the greatest treasure of all, God’s word ought to be highly prized as the means to gain Christ.
Second, God’s word equips us for every good work. Paul continues to extol the value of the Bible in his letter to Timothy. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Paul had written in Ephesians 2:10 that we are “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” Good works are our calling. We please and honor God by walking in good works. Out of love and gratitude for God, we diligently seek to glorify him in all we do. God’s word is an instrument to equip us to do that effectively.
Third, God’s word anchors us to the source of life, namely, God. Is this not the imagery of Psalm 1? The psalmist declares that the one who delights in and meditates on the law of the Lord is “like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers” (Ps. 1:3). The word of God is life-giving and enriching and stabilizing. Those who ignore God’s word are “like chaff that the wind drives away” (1:4). The encouragement of Scripture brings hope (Rom. 15:4). We live by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). And God’s word can guard us from death-inducing sin (Ps. 119:9 & 11).
I hope this whets your appetite for Scripture. My prayer is that we would join David in saying, “More to be desired are [God’s words] than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb” (Ps. 19:10). Next week we will consider the practical habits which “let the word of Christ dwell” in us richly.
