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we too give thanks to God unceasingly,
that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us,
you received it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God,
which is now at work in you who believe.
God's word is no ordinary word. It isn't words like we normally speak. It is not just something that passes through the ear, and then possibly takes up residence in the mind. It is a word which gets inside of us and does work within us. It is, in fact, "living and active" (see Hebrews 4:12). Jesus is the Word of the Father. The word of God spoken to us is truly a living word precisely because it brings more of the life of God within us.
Understanding how God's word can change us from the inside out is the key to not becoming like the Pharisees.
Even so, on the outside you appear righteous,
but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.
Motives that come from our flesh are concerned with how we look. Motives that come from God's power within us have no such constraints. They allow the fruits of the Spirit to blossom within us. Even we ourselves are surprised when we see such love flow through us, realizing that the all surpassing power is not from us but from God.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us (see Second Corinthians 4:7).
Let us fill our jars of clay with the words God gives us. Let us not just believe them in our minds, but speak them out loud into our situations. When we are fearful and feel weak, we can say "I am strong in him" (see First Corinthians 12:10). When we face a challenge, "With you I can break through any barrier, with my God I can scale any wall" (see Psalm 18:29)
We see in Augustine how profoundly the word can change life from the inside out. He who had said, "Give me chastity but not yet" was changed when he heard "Take up and read" and did so:
Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, in concupiscence. No further would I read; nor needed I: for instantly at the end of this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away.
- from Confessions of Saint Augustine, Chapter XIIAugustine prays for us today that we too may be transformed. Let us allow God's word full access to the deepest parts of our hearts where it can bear fruit one hundred fold for the Kingdom.
Even there your hand shall guide me,
and your right hand hold me fast.
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