Logos Lost

John 1

1 In the beginning was the Word {Logos}, and the Word {Logos} was with God, and the Word {Logos} was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word {Logos} was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

——————————

“Logos” is the Greek word translated as Word.

“Logos” is the Divine self-revelation of God-manifest in the flesh = Yeshua.

——————————

Please forgive the repetition. —

When I got saved, when I accepted the Logos Jesus Christ into my heart, everything changed. Things even looked different. I can still remember the first time, shortly after I was saved, looking up at the sky through my windshield unable to remember the last time I had looked up. I had become so full of the world that my focus was horizontal, completely.

When I got saved, I was blessed to be discipled and influenced by a man of God to whom the Word {Logos} of God was everything. You could almost say the Logos oozed from his pores. It permeated his whole life.

Since I had come from a whole lineage of unsaved family members, the profoundly opposite dynamics of his family and home-life punched me full force in the heart. I wanted, needed, to know why the immense difference.

Guess what it was.

The Word {Logos} was absorbed into the warp-and-woof of that man (husband/father) and woman (wife/mother) and, because of that, the family. I was inexorably drawn into an intense desire for what that family had. I HAD to have it for myself and for the future family I hoped one day to have.

In conjunction with that, I realized the only way that would happen was by putting in the necessary time READING the written Logos. There’s NO substitute for personal time in the Word of God.

I asked the man disciplining me (Omar Adams) how it was he knew so much of the Bible. I wanted to become like him. He said: “I’ve been saved 20 years. It takes time being in the Word for it to get into you.” That’s not an exact quote, but it’s close enough.

——————————

My Point:

We believers say we love the Logos, Yeshua. We believers say we love the written Logos, the Word. We believers say we love the God of the Logos who was made flesh. I don’t doubt that but I do, somewhat at least, dispute that.

Why?

A simple illustration I thought about last night in bed —

Back when you had to wait days for a letter to arrive, the waiting created increased joyful anticipation. When Judy and I were separated during the summer months while in college, I would expectantly await her love letters to arrive. We didn’t talk much on the phone because (back then) talking long distance was expensive.

So what did I do when her letters arrived? I’m sure you can guess. I ripped them open and devoured them, several times over.

But, let’s say I hadn’t done that. Say I just laid them aside. Say I waited and waited and waited and waited to open them. What would someone, anyone, have concluded? The negative conclusion might not have been totally correct, but it sure would cause someone to scratch their head and wonder why, right? RIGHT.

——————————

I’m hoping to inflame the desire that was placed within us at the moment of salvation, by the Holy Ghost, for the living Word of God.

Maybe I’m writing this for myself. But, I need to write this so I know I haven’t given up hope.

Hope for what?

That those of us that love the Logos; that those of us that love the Logos in print; that those of us that love the God of the Logos made flesh — that we would expectantly, anxiously, look for the next opportunity to rip into the pages of that Logos love letter awaiting us.

It SHOULD be that real to us. Just because we say it is so — that we love the Logos — does not make it line up with the tangible reality of our daily lives. I can, for instance, look at a pile of unopened letters from Judy and categorically, unequivocally, vociferously proclaim my love for her but … wouldn’t something be indicatively obvious if I didn’t open them? What would you conclude if that’s how I regarded Judy’s love letters?

Tell me then, what does it say, what conclusions should we make, if we’re not eager to tear open the written Logos every single day of our lives?

——————————

I’ve mentioned before that I watched Ranger Andy on TV after school. Quite accurately, the extent of my familiarity with the Bible came by watching Ranger Andy and also by watching Davey and Goliath on Sunday mornings.

Let the song I heard Ranger Andy sing over 50 years ago lodge in your hearts as it did mine. The truth of it impacted my pathway to salvation. And, for over forty years, the truth of it still informs the pathway of my walk of faith .

“You’ll find it in the Bible,

You’ll find it in the Bible,

You’ll find it in the Bible,

So you’ll know it’s true”

They only way “you’ll find it in the Bible” is to open it and read it.

Is the written Logos Lost to you?

Or …

Is it always within ready reach waiting for you to “find it” afresh-and-anew in the mailbox of your daily life?

I trow so.

———————————

———————————

Logos Lost — Editorial Observations …

**Perhaps the degree of dependence upon our favorite Bible teachers/instructors/pastors is becoming disproportional. Perhaps more time is being spent with our “YouTube Bibles” than with the actual written Logos of the living God.

Meaning —

Vociferous amounts of time are being devoted to a variety of YouTube/Online personalities. Some follow this teacher, some that teacher. Some this instructor, some that instructor. Some this preacher, some that preacher.

We all do this, to one degree or another. But could it possibly be that, with such diversity of presentations, we are increasingly losing our discernment regarding the personalities we let influence us?

We all have to ask ourselves some probing questions like:

++Do I find my information/knowledge more through men’s teachings or … by means of my own personal time with the written Logos?

In other words —

++Do I go to the Word first and then find out what men might think? (That is preferable.)

Or —

++Do I find out first what other sources say and then, maybe, go to the Word? (That is less preferable.)

Coupled with that —

**I’m concerned about the increasing merit and attention being given to the Apocryphal books. This is not a new stratagem of the Devil. Satan has, several times over, used this same exact ploy. He always attempts to shift focus away from God’s actual Logos. “Yea, hath God said?” is still alive and active. (Genesis 3:1)

If these non-canonical books were to have been in our Bibles, God should have/would have made that clearly obvious hundreds of years ago.

And with that a final …

I trow so.