Engaging with the Bible is crucial to every believer. However, I’m afraid in our culture of advanced technology and social media, it is becoming a lost art.
Oh, there are plenty of people listening to podcasts, pulling up blog posts, reading Christian authors, attending organized Bible studies, and even listening to the Bible on audio or attending sermons – all wonderful things.
BUT…
How many TODAY are taking the time (or even know how) to
OPEN UP THE BIBLE
and dig into it for themselves?
For God’s redeemed living in this fallen world, it is critical that we spend time engaging with God’s Word.
We MUST:
- KNOW for ourselves what the Word of God says rather than be dependent upon someone else’s interpretation.
- Be able to go beyond the acts of listening to and surface reading the Bible.
BUT WHY?
Reading the Bible is difficult: it’s long, the language is hard to understand.
It’s so much easier to let someone else do the heavy lifting and then glean from their efforts.
BECAUSE:
- There is a very real battle raging all around us (Ephesians 6:12). How will we be able to stand against Satan; able to discern truth if we don’t KNOW the TRUTH? The Bible is our weapon in this battle!
- God speaks to us through His Word (Hebrews 1:1-2). To know God’s will, to know what He wants from us and how to serve Him we must KNOW our Bible.
- God wants a relationship with us. In His Word, He tells us that He loves us (John 3:16), and that He wants a personal relationship with us (John 17:3).
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8).
One of the best ways to draw near, is to engage with Scripture.
Consider:
Jesus saturated Himself with God’s words over the course of His lifetime, going far beyond what we normally define as a daily quiet time. The Words of Scripture provided Jesus’ life mission statement, strengthened Him to resist Satan’s temptations, taught Him to compose the Lord’s Prayer, inspired His wisdom to develop and live out the Sermon on the Mount, informed Him about the cross, and helped Him to endure the cross. It was His intimacy with God’s words that empowered Him to overcome by the love of the Father and the power of the Spirit.
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.
–Hebrews 4:12
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…
–Colossians 3:16
It is because of this great need that I have put together a resource for helping people discover multiple ways of engaging with the Bible on their own. Through simple, self-guided, self-paced lessons, participants will be introduced to various ways of engaging with God’s Word that will equip them to independently dig into the Bible and inspire them to desire more and more time in His Word.
6 comments
Aimee Imbeau
Very excellent reasons to engage with God’s Word! And very true. Thanks for linking up with Grace and Truth this week.
Joanne Viola
Deborah, I was blessed in reading this post. I used the same Scripture in Hebrews when I wrote my post for today. Your thoughts added to my own which I so appreciated. I think this was my first time here so “Nice to meet you!”
betsydecruz
Deborah, so glad to see you at Grace and Truth today. These are important truths you’re putting forth. I never thought before about how central the Word of God was to Jesus’ life, not like you put it so clearly here. Thanks.
Deborah
Thank you for stopping by this week, Aimee!
Deborah
Joanne, Don’t you just love it when God places something on your heart and then it seems like that “something” comes at you from everywhere!!! I’m so glad you stopped by. It’s good to meet you also! I’ll be coming by in the next day or two to see your post on the Hebrews passage!
Deborah
Betsy, Thank you for stopping by today. I so enjoy meeting other bloggers and reading their posts at Grace and Truth.