The saint of God is to have one chief love—the word of God. One of the primary reasons the scriptures were written was that believers “might have hope” (Romans 15:4). The world wonders why anyone would desire to read about the lives of those who lived thousands of years ago. This so-called archaic book has no appeal to them. Yet, the testimonies found in scripture concerning God’s provisions continue to provide hope for anyone today willing to look into that book. Multiple times in Psalm 119 the psalmist declared his hope in the word of God (Psalm 119:49, 74, 81, 114, 147). The truth is, man’s hope for the coming of Christ, his hope in a heavenly home, and his hope in eternal life is all founded solely upon the words recorded in the pages of the Bible.
Christians should first and foremost focus on their walk with the Lord. As such, believers are instructed to add virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity to their faith. However, notice that every believer is to be “giving all diligence” (with great effort, but without haste). Of all these graces mentioned, faith seems to be the most foundational of them all. Unfortunately, far too many believers never grow beyond faith, making them unable to put forth much diligence in adding the other graces. Believers should be growing in grace daily (like those listed above) and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour (2 Peter 3:18). The word of God remains the only viable source from whence this diligent growth springs forth (1 Peter 2:2).
