TRANSLATE

It has been gratifying to receive a number of e-mails and phone calls and stop-bys talking about the message a couple of weeks ago about the importance of the BIBLE in our lives (November 15th blog here and podcast at www.kenoshafirst.com).

It makes my day to know people are going home with something to think about and then actually applying some of the Word to their own lives ... chewing on it ... self-feeding ... being challenged by God at home ... staying in the Word all week long.

Makes me want to get up and work another day.

There are really three ways to translate the Bible ... with your MIND ... with your HEART ... and with your LIFE.

I think a lot of us settle for the first - MIND translation. But the end result of that is just information and that's the last thing we need. Churches are full of people crammed full of Bible information for thirty-plus years but whose lives do not exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. So we know it's not information that changes us.

You can always translate with your HEART - the second way - and that seems an improvement over the first. It is closer to transformation at that point.

But then there is LIFE translation. That's when we become 'living epistles.' That's when the noun turns into a verb - doing over thinking about doing. And THAT is how we change a world.

Imagine a church full of people translating the Bible with their LIVES. Shocking.

And be blessed.