They are not … idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land. Deuteronomy 32:47a NIV
How does a person keep anything going for 72 years in a row?
Meet Darrell Johnson. For 72 years he has lived a life of faith—”walking with Jesus,” as he puts it. Johnson has been pastoring and teaching about Jesus for over 50 years, but if you think that’s his secret, he’d disagree with you. “What makes for that longevity,” Johnson explains, is that “He got ahold of me, and He didn’t let me go. Jesus holds us fast.”
There are some things we humans do naturally—like taking the path of least resistance. But following God’s path doesn’t come naturally. “People do not drift toward holiness,”[1] a wise man once observed.
Johnson shares that the place that Jesus gets ahold of us is in scripture, in God’s book, the Bible. He explains, “A person can’t have a living relationship with Jesus, apart from scripture. I can’t know Him without the scriptures. Just as in marriage, I can’t know [my wife] until she tells me who she is. I need Jesus to tell me who He is and the only place that can happen is in scripture.”
If you’re feeling distant from Jesus today, Johnson has a secret for you. He says, “From our side, the key to longevity is living in the Book.”[2] Long ago, God talked to His people about the purpose of His word, saying, “They are not … idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land” (Deuteronomy 32:47a NIV).
Yes, “The key to longevity is living in the Book.”[3]
[1] Carson, quoted in For the Love of God, Vol. 2 (2006), in Justin Taylor, “Sanctified Terms for Our Drifts from Holiness.”
[2] @streams.studio, Instagram photo, “72 Years of Faith,” October 7, 2024, https://www.instagram.com/p/DA0-2eiyM2E/.
[3] Ibid.
