“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” Romans 15:4
For the past two weeks, our focus has been on the Bible- the world’s best selling book of all time. We have looked at some factual truths on the Bible. Today, we want to focus on why should we read the Bible. I quoted this verse as my basis to explain the reasons.
Please follow me along on this journey as we glean.
1. Learning- the Bible was basically written for our learning. One may ask, “what do I learn?”. You will learn about the central theme and focus of the Bible which is Jesus Christ. You will learn of his attributes, his character, his teachings and his lifestyle. Asides that, you also learn certain Christian attributes and principles like justice, honesty, truth, diligence among many others.
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29
Jesus invites us to learn from him. The best way is through the medium of reading the Bible.
2. Patience- patience here refers to steadfastness, constancy and endurance. Being steadfast especially in a time of uncertainty comes from what you have read and known. You are guided when navigating uncharted waters. The Bible also extols certain virtues like faith, a good attitude and the like when we are going “through the mill”. Being constant (consistent) at a thing also comes from certain instructions you might have read. For example in the Bible, it is written, “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Galatians 6:9. When a scripture like this becomes the bedrock of your life and forms part of your principles, you will keep on keeping on. One of the things we learn from Jesus as we keep reading the Bible is endurance. Deliberate on this scripture after you are done with this post, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2
3. Comfort- you are encouraged by the contents of the Bible when you read certain stories like David, who made a bad decision by sleeping with his colleague’s wife and killed him on top. This is a bad recipe to build your life on. With these negative implications, David still turned his life around and became one of the greatest kings in history. With a story like this, I am encouraged that one bad turn should not alter the course of my destiny, if I am only prepared to pay the price of change. There are many life lessons like this which will serve as solace and change our paradigm.
4. Hope– hope means being optimistic, but in the Bible, it has quite a different meaning: a confident and positive expectation of good. The source of expecting something good can come from reading the Bible. One of the things we are confident about is, one day there will be an event- the end of this age. We believe having a relationship with God gives us a better standing in eternity. That is the greatest hope of a professing believer. Personally, as a Christian, I am very hopeful of seeing God face to face based on this scripture, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” I John 3:2-3
So anybody that starts the journey of reading the Bible should expect these four life changing benefits.
Happy Labor’s Day on this side of the world and to everyone else, have a blessed week.
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Till, I come your way again…
Peace & Love
Pencilled Thoughts 