12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
The purpose of the Word of God is to get into the deepest part of us, our thoughts and attitudes, and change them. Just as a sword entering into a person’s body would change it, so God’s Word changes us at the deepest levels. The Lord wants to change our thought patterns. He wants us to think His thoughts after him. We are to allow the Word to influence the way we think about everything in the world. Some people call this our “worldview.” When we think about everything in the world the way God thinks about them, then we are allowing the Word to change us. When we adopt His attitude as our own, then we are beginning to be in the world the way He wants us to be. We must allow our attitudes to change. Our kids get in trouble for their attitudes. Why should we get away with a bad attitude! The Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, are different from other books. God Himself speaks through them. They are His message to humanity. The words are alive because God is alive. From cover to cover, God will speak through them if you will listen. When approached in faith they bring life because God breathes life through them. We bring everything that we are to the Word. Our full intellectual faculties are to be brought to bear. We don’t check our brains at the door. The Word can stand up to the hardest questions, even questions of science, history and mathematics. But the best areas of study are those areas that trouble humans the most. The Scriptures help answer the tough questions like, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” “Why is there death?” “What happens after death?”
The Arnold Journey 