The ardent coda of the “model bible student” in Psalm 119:169-176 encourages us to engage the word of God as our foundation for prayer and responsible Christian living.

Since the scripture is a powerful gift (Hebrews 4:12) we must train in order to properly wield it, so as not to injure ourselves or others through imprudent application.

Many of the actors cast in the film The Hobbit had little or no sword-play experience. In order to avoid deadly accidents on set the actors undertook a daily training regimen.  Steven McMichael, the film’s sword master, stated,

“As far as strength, it was more the mental endurance…. Within our training sessions, we had built [the actors] up. By the time we shot the first battle scenes you see in the movie, we had been training… for six months.”

Since the word of God is meant to be “a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path” (119:105) and not the headlight of an on-coming train, let us commit–like the actors in The Hobbit–to becoming more skilled in our study and application of “the two-edged sword” of scripture so that we may “encourage each other and build each other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11) in the Kingdom of God.

Rev. Kimberly Orr is an Associate at Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston. If you are ever in the area, they would love it if you would drop by to worship with them.

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