Back in the 90’s the band, Extreme, put out a song called, “More Than Words”. For reasons that escape me, that song came back to me this last weekend. I was sitting outside enjoying the fall weather, while my chickens ran around the back yard, when the words came to mind. Not some of them. All of them. Now mind you, I can’t always remember where I put my phone, glasses, or purse, but I could suddenly remember all the words to a song from 25 years ago. The mind is a weird thing, I tell you. I know it has to do with short term versus long term memory, and since I don’t think you want to travel down that rabbit hole with me, I’ll leave it there.

Another thing I can’t remember is exactly when the words in the Bible became more than words to me. At one time in my life, they were just that. I mean they were good words. Words to live by, I guess. I believed they were true-ish. But at some point or another, I allowed them to become more than just words on a page. At some point I stopped saying, “I know what the Bible says about that, but…”, and started saying, “I know what the Bible says about that, so…” The difference between “but” and “so” is enormous.

The Bible says this about itself in Hebrews: “The word of God is alive and active, and sharper than any two edged sword”. The words themselves call out to us, telling us that there is more there than meets the eye. The words in scripture have the power to divide spirit and soul, joints and marrow. Now that’s getting down in there. It goes on to say that it exposes our thoughts and desires. Mere words on a page can’t do that. Words can make us feel things, but the words of scripture dissect and expose us!

When we begin to live our lives with the understanding of the power of the scriptures, it changes how we see those words. Take for example the verse that says there is life and death in the tongue. And the one that tells us we will give an accounting for every word that comes out of our mouths. Now if we truly believe the power behind those words… we will watch our own. We will stop justifying our harsh words with the actions or words of others. We will try harder to speak life and truth over others, and refrain from careless words that wound or manipulate people.

I think we all need to get to the point in our lives with Jesus that we decide we are going all in and believe it all, and we are going to open ourselves up to the scriptures’ dissection. We are going to allow the words to dig deep into us and change us. When we do that, things begin to change. Slowly and steadily, we begin to see the world a bit differently. We see ourselves differently. We see through new eyes. We walk, react, and live differently. To others, we look a bit odd. I’ve had more than one person tell me that I didn’t seem to always live in the real world. Just to be clear, this was not an intended compliment. I smile a little when I hear that because I beg to differ. I think it’s me that lives in the real world, and they live in the world of their own making. I know, I used to live there myself. It’s all about worry, anxiety, offense, panic and fear of loss.

The Lord gave us the words of scripture to be more than words to us. In those words He gave us truth, love, and power… and it has always been His intention for us to walk in those. Are we going to be a “but” or a “so”? It’s a subtle difference, but that small difference changes everything.