Close...

"But the word is very near you, to your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it."--Deuteronomy 30:11. As mentioned last week Moses is emphasizing to the people that the commandments of God are not out of reach.  To emphasize the point further Moses says the word is near, it is in their mouth, and it is in their heart.  The point is, the word is close.

Close.  First off I want to say our God is a good God.  One reason for this is because God has made clear what He wants.  He has done this through His Word.  He has made His Word accessible and put it close to us.

Close.  The Israelites heard God's Word from Moses.  They knew what they had to do.  The word was in their hearts and the next step was to observe it.

Close.  So just how close is God's Word?  Well consider the image above.  A dusty Bible.  Maybe your Bible is not literally dusty but seriously consider when is the last time you picked it up outside of church services?  Many times we will go through life fulfilling our Christian duties but as time goes on we just find ourselves going through the motions.  So what is the problem?   We forget how close God's Word really is.

Close.  The problem is although our physical Bible might not be collecting dust, the fact that we are not making time for personal study causes God's Word to collect dust in our hearts and it soon becomes unclear why we are even doing what we are doing when it comes to fulfilling our duties as Christians.  This happens when we forget that God's Word is close.

Close.  Letting God's Word collect dust in our heart can ultimately lead to falling away from Him altogether. Yes we might still make it to Sunday church services and midweek Bible Study but oftentimes without even knowing it, we lose sight of why we are doing it.  Ultimately what happens, as described in Revelation 2:4, we forsake our first love, Christ.

Close.  So my encouragement to you is this.  Make time for additional Bible study this week.  Start small. Start by spending one hour in personal Bible Study.  Maybe study more on last Sunday's sermon.  Maybe start studying something that you have had questions about but just had not gotten around to studying that particular subject.  But most importantly, if you know what God expects you to do to make sure you are in a right relationship with Him, do not delay in responding to the gospel message.  God's Word is close. What will you do with it?

PRAY ABOUT IT! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!