by Pastor Patrick Cho

Grace Life has been meeting for two weeks now and has just begun a study through Word Filled Families, by John Barnett. Even for the first few weeks, it has been a very helpful book walking through various Scriptures on how to cultivate better marriages and stronger parenting. The importance of having God’s Word central in families can’t be overstated. And yet, for believers we know that this doesn’t happen automatically. It has to be worked at in order for God’s Word to remain the focus in a family.

This principle really goes as far back as when God first revealed His Word to His people. For instance, before the second generation of Israelites is able to enter the Promised Land, Moses helps them to understand what would be the key to their success. In Deuteronomy 6:4-9, he exhorts them to remember their one true God and to keep His Word. The Word was to be on their hearts from early morning until late at night. It needed to proceed from their lips, and in whatever they did or conceived, everything should have been filtered through God’s truth. Even when Moses died, it is not surprising that God told Joshua essentially the same thing before Joshua led the people into the Promised Land (Josh. 1:6-8). If Joshua and the people were going to see any success, the Scriptures needed to be central to their lives.

This is not just an Old Testament idea, though. The Apostle Peter exhorted his readers to long for the pure spiritual milk of the Word in order to grow spiritually (1 Pet. 2:2). If any spiritual growth is going to take place in a believer’s heart, it will come by means of the Bible. This is also why Paul tells the Colossians that they must allow the Word of Christ to dwell in them richly (Col. 3:16). God’s truth is to saturate the lives of His people. It is thus not just a goal for the believing family to be Word filled, but it really is the goal of each believer to be Word filled. And as each believer allows the Word to dwell in them richly, so families will consequently benefit greatly.

This isn’t like the old saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Simply knowing the Bible and reading it each day is not going to make a person Word filled. It isn’t just a matter of going through the motions. As one of my beloved seminary professors used to say, “The goal is not just to the Word, but the God of the Word.” We need to pursue Christ, not just knowledge about Christ. This really begins, then, with a complete and correct understanding of the gospel. Unless God has transformed you and renewed your mind to think His thoughts after Him, and unless He has removed your spiritual blindness to allow you to understand His truth, pursuing a Word filled life would be futile. No person can accomplish this on his own, but is completely dependent on God in it (cf. John 15:5; 1 Cor. 2:14).

So, it should be an exciting year as we tackle some of the most important biblical principles pertaining to biblical marriage, parenting, manhood, and womanhood. Our hope is that as a result of this study, the church would be further strengthened and that the families of the church would know the Lord more deeply and sweetly.