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Jan 12, 2025 06:00am

Benefit for the Body

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Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. (Colossians 3:16a)

When we are trying to deepen a relationship with someone, what do we do? We talk to them. How does God talk to us? Through his Word.

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:1–2).

In these last days since Christ’s incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension, God has chosen to speak to us, not through a direct, spoken word to prophets, not through clouds in the sky or signs or numbers, but very specifically through his Son who is the very Word of God.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1–2).

And God ordained that all his words to us have been recorded and preserved over thousands of years, in the Bible.

Daily intake of the Word is of utmost importance to the Christian life and the health of the body. If we want to grow in our faith, knowledge, and love of God, we must get to know what he says to us in his written Word.

Not only must we get to know his Word, we must allow his Word to dwell in us.

When we dwell with someone, we live with them. We don’t see them occasionally; they are constantly there—watching TV in our living room, storing their toothbrush in our bathroom, making food in our kitchen, taking up space in our closet with their clothes. We eat together, do chores together, hang out together, trip over one another’s shoes. We don’t just sense they are there—we honestly can’t avoid bumping into one another because we are in such close proximity. And if it is a healthy relationship, we are talking to each other. That’s what it means to dwell.

We must also allow his Word to dwell in us richly. Again, following our previous analogy, we are not just in the same room as the other person, but they are abundantly present. Their socks end up in our sock drawer; we can’t sit down without having to move some of their stuff; we might find their hairs everywhere, including on our clothes. They saturate every inch of our space and life.

To compare it to another analogy, having the Word dwell in you richly is like a bucket of water. If we want to get wet, we don’t just let the bucket of water sit in the room and look at it. We get up and soak in it or pour it on ourselves. The same can be said of a glass of water—if we are thirsty and want that water to be in us richly, we actually have to pick it up and be drinking it all day long.

When we let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly, not only will it benefit us, but then we can be a benefit to the church—the body of Christ.

Conversely, if we are not in the Word, then we are not of benefit to the body—or at least not as much benefit as we could be.

Think of a sports team. Teams are comprised of many individual players who come together as one unit to achieve a common goal. If one player doesn’t put in the work off the field or the court—if they don’t practice the necessary skills or strengthen their muscles—then they are not a help to their team during the game. They are actually a hinderance.

Our family recently watched the summer Olympics. We love cheering for our country’s volleyball team, basketball team, swimmers—pretty much any sport you can name, we enjoy cheering for national pride and watching the physical prowess of the athletes. Some of our favorite events to watch are in track and field, like the relay race. If you have four runners on a relay team, and one of them doesn’t prepare for the Olympics, it will cost their entire team the race. They would not be helping their team towards a medal but hindering them.

I have only participated in a 5k race once. I got the t-shirt and crossed it off my bucket list. But there was something that stuck with me about the race. The “track” was a down-and-back path in the park; when you got to the halfway point, you had to turn around and go back the way you came to reach the finish line.

The faster runners obviously got to the halfway point first. But as they came back—still running their own race and trying to make good time—the more seasoned runners were cheering on the slower, less experienced people. Even those who were just walking (like me!). They told us, “Good job!” and “You can do it!” and “Don’t quit; you’re almost there!” They encouraged us to keep going and finish the race well. They were not just there for themselves but were “teaching” and “admonishing” the other participants.

We cannot begin to teach and admonish one another in the church if we don’t train and prepare ourselves first, by knowing what the Word of God says and making it a vital, intimate part of our daily lives. And if we try to teach and admonish one another without the Word dwelling in us richly, we certainly won’t be doing it “in all wisdom” and, therefore, may actually be a hurt or a hindrance to our fellow believers.

To run our own race well, we must be in the Word. And to be able to encourage and teach other runners, and lovingly and truthfully show them where they might be in error or need to grow, we have to know God’s Word. We have to feast on it, not just take a little nibble every now and then, for “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:3b). If we only nibble, we starve, and a starving part of the body makes the whole body unwell and weak.

Take in the Word. Take it in richly, and let it live with you. It will not only be a benefit to you, but it will benefit the entire body of believers in your life.