The Living Word

I love to study the Bible, not just read it, but study it.

My journey into in-depth Bible study began when I was fairly young. My mom and dad took me to church regularly, but they wanted me understand the Bible for myself. I guess I was in my early teens (maybe younger) when Dad showed me how to use the Strong's Concordance to look up Bible words. Dad bought me a five-volume Hastings Bible Dictionary, along with other study books like atlases and topical Bibles. 

I can't say I ever really doubted to begin with, but I am thankful to know that my parents did not lie to me. I discovered that the basic doctrine I was taught at church was biblically sound. I saw it for myself in the Bible. I knew that I was not living something that was made up by man. 

The Bible is rich and inexhaustible. Until the day I die, I will still be discovering new nuggets about how to live, how to please God, and how to enjoy my life with Him.  

These days, there is every type of Bible study help available online. Literally, in seconds, you can have the meaning of some obscure Greek word used only once in the Bible. You can discover the location of a village mentioned in the Bible. The access to such resources has expanded greatly since I sat at the dining room table with my Bible and that big Strong's Concordance!

Yet, I wonder if such ready access to so much knowledge about the Bible has helped or hindered Christians today. Certainly, we cannot underestimate our appreciation for so much knowledge at our fingertips. 

But have we graduated past the point of being thrilled as God personally illuminates a passage of Scripture during our special time of prayer? Do we still allow the Bible to "speak" to us personally? Have we learned to rely so much on external resources that the Bible itself has lost some of its awe?

Online, you can find ready-made sermons. If a preacher desired, he would not even have to pray and get the mind of God for his congregation!

I propose that we take the good that our technological age offers, yet embrace afresh the simple yet powerful activities that makes the Church and our individual lives so joyful and effective: Prayer, praise, thanksgiving, a daily walk with God, fellowship with believers, and spiritual devotion. 

We can't afford to allow easy access to so much knowledge about the Bible steal our relationship with the God of the Bible. The Bible is not just a book to analyze intellectually; it is a book to be lived.

II Timothy 3:14-17 

But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 

And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 

That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.