So yesterday I posted an article about reading and studying the Bible. The point I was trying to make is that wherever we are in terms of Bible knowledge, we should start there and make progress. We cannot let ourselves be talked out of starting a journey just because it may take awhile.
Whether you are a spiritual newbie or a spiritual veteran, the God’s Word will speak to you. I do not mean it will speak in some vague sense of being generally inspiring. Fortune cookies can “speak” in that sense. No, when I say the Word of God speaks, I mean that the Holy Spirit of God will highlight and connect what you are reading to your life in powerful ways. Listen to what the Bible says about itself:
11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Hebrews 4:11-13 English Standard Version (emphasis mine)
The Word of God aka the Bible aka Scripture is living, and it is active. We are not talking about mere ink and paper. We are not talking about some ancient words or ideas from dead people. We are talking about God’s words and God’s ideas, a God who is very much alive and speaking to us right now, today!
It is one thing if you are reading this blog and I am nowhere near you. It is another thing if you are reading this with me sitting beside you and able to clarify what I mean in real time. It is something altogether if I was sitting beside you as you read and saying, “Look! See that! That was specifically for you” because I knew you and what you needed to hear. That is what happens when we read scripture!
Now maybe that doesn’t happen every single time we read the Bible, but I guarantee you it never happens when your Bible is gathering dust on the shelf.
What book of the Bible are you reading today?
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