Infomercials almost always worked at my house. When we were raising our five kids, I’m not sure a week went by without one of them running to me with some version of: “Mom! We have to get the Kitchen Magic Missile! It does the work of 25 kitchen tools!” I got such a kick out of the times one or another of my children could deliver the entire pitch in full-on sales voice. “It’ll make a smoothie. And it slices and dices. And who’s Julie Ann?” In all fairness, I didn’t know what “julienne” meant until I was in my twenties.
My favorite part of my kids’ sales spiels was when they sales-shouted, “And that’s not all!” And then they would launch into another list of things it would do. Like make ice cream, groom the cat, chop wood, and end world hunger. Something like that anyway. Just when I would think the pitch was over, there would be a “But wait! There’s more!”
Then I’d be informed that if I bought one Kitchen Magic Missile, for just the cost of the extra shipping and handling, I could also get the amazing Mushi knives. Those knives could cut through the fender of a Buick and still make perfect radish roses.
Just about everyone in the Rhea household was sure all of it was completely true. It had to be. It was on TV.
My grown kids laugh about that now. But also I think some of them own those knives.
I confess I’ve made a purchase here and there I’ve regretted. Some were even on TV. What a comfort it is that there is a source we can always trust. It’s God’s Word, and it delivers every time. As we read through it, and pray through it, and study it, and make it part of our thinking, the Holy Spirit of God brings its truths home in our hearts. What a difference that makes in how we live.
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart,” (Hebrews 4:12 ESV). Not even Julie Ann can slice and dice like this. There is nothing in this world like God’s Word for distinguishing good from bad, righteous from unrighteous—breaking it all down to the heart level.
It’s not always comfy. But I’m still sold. God’s truth shows me everything in me that’s off, often advertising it loud and clear—from my head to my spirit and back again. The Message describes the Sword as one that is “cutting swift and deep into our innermost thoughts and desires with all their parts, exposing us for what we really are.”
I need this more than any smoothie. I need the sharper-than-any-double-edged-Mushi-knife Sword, the living and active Word of God. I want it in my life every day. I want to let it change me. Because, wait. There’s more! The living Word always holds new wonders. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, “Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years.” Every day is a good day for a wider, deeper understanding of our God.
Meanwhile, maybe I didn’t completely understand everything about those knife deals, but I support my kids’ purchases. Because who knows when they might need to cut through a Buick fender.