My reading today was John chapter 5, and while reading it I started thinking about how we read Scripture today. In this chapter Jesus speaks to the Jews who want to kill Him because, according to them, “not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.” (v.18) Jesus explains to them that He can do nothing without God, (v.30) and “He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent Him.” (v.23b) But He didn’t stop there. He continued on, using Scripture as a sort of defense and an accusation. He says, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (vv.39,40) He then finished with, “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” (vv.45-47) So here they are, Jews who are well learned in the Scriptures, missing the key facts in those Scriptures. They read, but do they truly understand or believe?
The same question can be posed to us. Those of us who read the Bible, how do we read it? Is it an every day thing, or is it from time to time? Do we actually make the time to sit down and read, taking our time as we do so, so that we are able to breathe His words in deeply and gain a true understanding of them? Or do we rush through it because we want to read daily, not missing a day, and we have five million things on our plate so we’ll fit it in….um….here. Or there. Or maybe there. I admit I’ve done the latter, but because I know that I try to make time to actually sit down and think about His words, what He’s saying, and what it means in my life. When I read I have a notebook with me and write down any thoughts that come to me, and any verses that jump out at me. Of course I also have this blog where I can take what I’m thinking and really get it down in writing.
Let’s say that we are very good at reading our Bibles each and every day, and we even take the time to read it and meditate on it. Then what? Do we close the Bible, put it away, and then forget what we just read? Or do we keep our new found knowledge close to our hearts, and on the tip of our tongue? Hopefully we keep it close and share it with others. The best way to keep anything you’ve learned close at hand is by talking about it. It’s true for anything we learn be it History, Science, Philosophy, Language, or even Scripture. If we use it we won’t lose it. And not only will we not lose it, but we will hopefully be able to make a difference in someone else’s life through our discussions. Everyone needs to continue their learning process no matter how “advanced” they are, and we can all learn from each other.
What we need to do is read our Bibles daily, and truly meditate on what we read. We need to take our time with it. It is a precious gift from God, shared with people all over the world, written in many different languages. I thank God when I read that I am able to read His words because they are in my native tongue. If they were never translated from the Greek or Hebrew, think of all the wonderful teachings we would be missing out on because we wouldn’t be able to understand the words. But, since we are able to read it, then we need to go for a different type of understanding. We know the words, we understand the sentence structure, so now all we have to do is understand the meaning behind it, and why it was so important that it was placed in this book of truth. The Bible is Truth, for “all Scripture is God-breathed,” (2 Tm 3:16) and He said “I, the Lord, speak the truth; I declare what is right.” (Isa 45:19)
Try to do this every day and see where it takes you in your spiritual life.
May we all remember to take our time with the most precious words placed in our hands, and may we meditate on those words and realize just what God is trying to tell us through them. Some will be easier to understand than others, but with God, and with the people He places in our lives, we will be able to take steps closer and closer to His Truth.
The same question can be posed to us. Those of us who read the Bible, how do we read it? Is it an every day thing, or is it from time to time? Do we actually make the time to sit down and read, taking our time as we do so, so that we are able to breathe His words in deeply and gain a true understanding of them? Or do we rush through it because we want to read daily, not missing a day, and we have five million things on our plate so we’ll fit it in….um….here. Or there. Or maybe there. I admit I’ve done the latter, but because I know that I try to make time to actually sit down and think about His words, what He’s saying, and what it means in my life. When I read I have a notebook with me and write down any thoughts that come to me, and any verses that jump out at me. Of course I also have this blog where I can take what I’m thinking and really get it down in writing.
Let’s say that we are very good at reading our Bibles each and every day, and we even take the time to read it and meditate on it. Then what? Do we close the Bible, put it away, and then forget what we just read? Or do we keep our new found knowledge close to our hearts, and on the tip of our tongue? Hopefully we keep it close and share it with others. The best way to keep anything you’ve learned close at hand is by talking about it. It’s true for anything we learn be it History, Science, Philosophy, Language, or even Scripture. If we use it we won’t lose it. And not only will we not lose it, but we will hopefully be able to make a difference in someone else’s life through our discussions. Everyone needs to continue their learning process no matter how “advanced” they are, and we can all learn from each other.
What we need to do is read our Bibles daily, and truly meditate on what we read. We need to take our time with it. It is a precious gift from God, shared with people all over the world, written in many different languages. I thank God when I read that I am able to read His words because they are in my native tongue. If they were never translated from the Greek or Hebrew, think of all the wonderful teachings we would be missing out on because we wouldn’t be able to understand the words. But, since we are able to read it, then we need to go for a different type of understanding. We know the words, we understand the sentence structure, so now all we have to do is understand the meaning behind it, and why it was so important that it was placed in this book of truth. The Bible is Truth, for “all Scripture is God-breathed,” (2 Tm 3:16) and He said “I, the Lord, speak the truth; I declare what is right.” (Isa 45:19)
Try to do this every day and see where it takes you in your spiritual life.
May we all remember to take our time with the most precious words placed in our hands, and may we meditate on those words and realize just what God is trying to tell us through them. Some will be easier to understand than others, but with God, and with the people He places in our lives, we will be able to take steps closer and closer to His Truth.
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