Coats Are for Wearing

The weather lately has been a little sketch.

It can’t decide whether it’s still winter, or if it will be spring. Even my weather app seems to be confused. It says the high for today will be 54F, but when I scroll through the hour-by-hour weather, it doesn’t show any temps higher than the 30s.

So maybe it’ll be 54F somewhere else. Congrats to you people.

Anyway, the other day it was pretty cold outside. Now, I grew up in Ohio back when we used to get snow, and had wind chill temps of -32F sometimes. I’m used to cold weather. (And I know you all might be thinking that I spent a lot of years since then in Africa. True. But adapting back to the cold has been pretty easy for me.)

I was trying to get to work a little early because I had a lot to do. I didn’t feel like putting on my coat because I was only going to be outside for a short time, and it feels like a hassle sometimes.

I took it with me, of course, because I also lived with the Manns for a year before I married my handsome hubby, and ‘Safety First’ is drilled into my brain. So I threw it in the back seat in case of a car wreck or other unforseeable circumstance, jumped in the car, and cranked the heat.

Now, you have to understand that our church (where I work) was built in a wind zone. At least it seems that way. I may have just made up that term. Wind Zone. Sounds legit.

Anyway, the wind is almost always blowing, and it is for sure (I may be exaggerating) ten degrees colder than at my own house. I know this. But sometimes I forget.

I get out of my car, the icy wind hits me, and I suck in a breath like I’ve just plunged into tundra waters for a polar bear dip.

I hurriedly gather my bag, secure my keys in my hand, then drape my coat across my arm for the dash into the building. It’s amazing how warm that one part of my arm felt with my coat over it, though.

I made it to the lobby, shivered, and shook myself like a puppy, trying to get the cold off of me. I looked down at my coat draped over my arm, and had the thought: “It’s nice to carry my coat with me, but it wasn’t meant to be carried. For it to be really effective, I’m supposed to wear it.”

And that made me think of the Bible.

Maybe you grew up in church, and it’s been drilled into your head that the Word of God is important. Perhaps you carry the Bible with you out of habit. Or maybe you only pick it up on Sunday morning to bring to church.

I’ll let you in on a secret.

It wasn’t meant to be carried. For it to be really effective, you have to READ it.

And sometimes that feels like a hassle. We have to make time. Be intentional. Be quiet. All the things that require some self-discipline, so some days we just grab it and throw it in the back seat. Sure, it can make you feel better to have it. It can give you warm fuzzies to know it’s ‘draped over your arm’, but that isn’t its purpose.

Honestly, I’m a different person when I’ve spent time in the Word of God. It gets to me. It teaches me. It reproves me. It softens my hard edges. It wraps me in the warm love of God, and makes me ready to minister to my family and the people around me.

The Bible isn’t a good luck charm to carry around, or keep in your car. It isn’t going to get into your heart and mind by sleeping with it under your pillow. It won’t do any good to have it and look the part, but have no clue how to help people who are hurting. Or help yourself when you are hurting.

It’s an awesome book that has changed my life. If you haven’t picked one up in a while, maybe make today that day.

2Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Psa 119:27 Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
Psa 119:28 My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Job 23:11 My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.
Job 23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.