(Acts 17:11 NIV) Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. The word of God is always controversial. It can be no other way for if it be the actual word of God it cannot be ignored. If it be the word of man it cannot be revered. It is the heart of the individual that judges the origin of the word and gives it appropriate resident in their lives.
Some have read the bible and claim it is filled with error or it doesn’t make sense. They read the book but they are lacking one vital ingredient. The things of God are spiritually understood. Anyone reading a spiritual book without the aid of the Spirit will obviously walk away without a true understanding of what they have read. It would be like trying to read the literature of any culture without having someone from that culture to explain things.
It is a circle. One cannot understand the word of God without God to explain it and one cannot have God to explain it unless one is a Christian therefore only Christians understand the word of God. That, of course, is a pat answer but it is an accurate answer. How then is one who is unsaved to gain an understanding of the word to become a Christian? Obviously from a Christian or from a miraculous revelation directly from God.
Oddly enough even Christians tend not to read or study their bible. Here we are filled with the Spirit of God, given access directly to God’s throne and handed his word…which collects dust on our library shelf. Shame on us! We sort of know what Christianity is about but we don’t know enough to tell folks why we believe one way or the other. When someone asks us how to be a Christian we tell them to go to church or call the preacher. Brothers and sisters it ought not to be so!
I want to offer you a small challenge. The bible contains 66 books. Choose any one of them and adopt it as your book of the bible. Read it daily. It doesn’t matter how much you read as long as you read daily. After you have read your daily amount, take 5 minutes to think about what you have read. Apply whatever you learn to your life for that day. Continue to do this for 30 days. At the end of that 30 days find someone and share with them what you have learned.
If you follow these instructions faithfully you’ll find you are closer to God. If not, email me and we’ll work on it together.
(Hebrews 4:12 NIV) 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.
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