Why Do You Read the Bible?
Recently I have been reading the book Multiply
by Francis Chan which is about
Discipleship. In the section about studying the Bible it talks about the
reasons for reading the Bible. Is it done out of some sort of perceived
obligation? Are you reading it to be smarter than everybody else? What is your motivation?
This got me to thinking, why I read the Bible. I have no
desire to be the world’s foremost theologian. Then I came to realize it is
because I really, really, really (get the idea) want to know God and the Bible
is the best way to do that.
This morning as I was doing my morning devotionals God spoke
through the words in Psalm
143:10 NLT:
10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my
God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.
One of the ways that God is going to teach me to do His will
is for me to better understand what He is saying to me. He speaks to all of us
through His love letter to us. That love letter is the Bible. The messages
contained in the Bible have been called many things that it is not. I believe
that the Bible is the inerrant, inspired and authoritative Word of God. This is
backed up by Scripture (2
Timothy 3:15-17; 2
Peter 1:20-21; Psalm
119:105,160, 12:6; Proverbs
30:5).
In order for God to teach me, I have to be willing to learn
and be willing to accept His correction. This will happen because He is my God.
Something that I did not understand fully until He met me right where I was at
nearly 13 years ago. Sure, I knew God before that. We had a relationship. He
was all in and I was, well, I wasn’t. All that changed and I have been
devouring His Word ever since in an effort to know God better.
17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces
good deeds, it is dead and useless.
James is not telling that by doing we are good enough. I
believe he is telling us that if we truly have faith that we just by our nature
do good deeds. We will not want to do the things that the world tells us are
ok. When we come into a relationship with God we then allow the Holy Spirit to
fill us. We are then guided to do God’s Will. Our faith will become evident.
So, now you know why I read the Bible. Why do you?
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