The importance of Bible literacy is a fair debate. Even the Bible itself tells us that knowledge, just for the sake of knowledge, can be detrimental—it puffs up and leads to pride (1 Cor. 8:1). And if Bible knowledge runs the risk of making us prideful (and in turn, self-righteous), why not simply focus more on the … [Read more...]
Planning a Funeral
How would you complete this sentence: “Because I have been raised with Christ, I will …”? Does anything pop into your mind? If not (and that’s okay!), the passage below will help you fill in the blank. Most of the New Testament is a collection of letters written within a few decades of Jesus’ ministry. These letters were … [Read more...]
Just EXACTLY Who Is Jesus?
Within the first 100 years after Jesus’ ministry, a lot of talk about Him was still going around. Some of it was inaccurate (hmmm…imagine that!). To help people sort out the information, there was a need to get the Truth down on “paper”—and voila!—the New Testament was written. The New Testament book of Hebrews offers one of the … [Read more...]
My First InWord Devo
You’ve probably not seen a devotional like this. Here’s why: Over the next few minutes you’ll spend more time engaging in Scripture and recording your own thoughts than you will reading our thoughts about the Scripture. There’s nothing wrong with reading other’s thoughts about Scripture, but we are committed to pure, raw … [Read more...]
Not a Morning Person?
Proverbs 27:14 If anyone loudly blesses their neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse. Even Bible writers revered sleep. So, raise your hand if you’ve ever had this thought: I don’t know who had the idea of early morning school schedule but it sure wasn’t a teenager. Unless you’re in the select minority … [Read more...]
A Personal Word from InWord’s Founder, Barry Shafer
In 2014 InWord began a revitalization after a rather turbulent (in both bad and good ways) season. Here is a personal word from Barry, InWord’s director and founder, written at the cusp of that revitalization in 2014. Rip Van Winkle is a name that comes to mind. In the fall of 2006 I started dozing off. In the winter of 2009 … [Read more...]