Why I Read the Bible
This is such good subject for me to explore on. If you would have asked me a year ago, I would have told you I was reading the Bible because I just love to read. Ask me today, and I will tell you that I read in order to study the word of God. Studying the word of God is so much different than just reading the Bible to read it.
About a year back, I got bored and told my wife that I was going to read the Bible from cover to cover just to see how long it would take me. Now keep in mind, I can read full novels in about a day if I am truly interested in the book. So I borrowed a Bible from my wife and just started to read it. In about 3 weeks I had finally completed reading it and was completely horrified. I mean I picked up this book and found it to be one of the most captivating yet terrifying stories I had ever read. The Bible tells us about all God’s work and the life and trials of Jesus as well as the history of the Church. Now I know what I am saying is shocking to some, but please stay with me. What I had learned from this experience of reading the Bible from cover to cover with no guidance is that that is not the way to read the Bible for your first time out. I mean without the guidance or Christ in your heart, you see a God who in the Old Testament was ruthless in his conviction of wanting people to do what was commanded. I mean he started wars, wiped the earth clean, and if you disobeyed him you usually wound up dead. I was so shocked by the Old Testament that I could not get the message of the New Testament. I mean I was so jaded I could not even catch the understanding of John 3:16 which tell us “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” I was so concerned with what I had read in the Old Testament that the truth behind this statement was lost to me.
Fast forward to the present. I started to attend Church with my wife during our kids VBS this year. On the first night of our adult study, I made my thoughts known to the group about what I felt the Bible was about. You know the horrific story I had read in 3 weeks. I was totally expecting to get crushed by the people in the group, but some agreed with me and all supported me. I was then told that I should have started the other direction. Start with the New Testament and work backwards you know. I had never thought about it that way. Well by the 5th night of my adult study I had accepted Christ into my heart and found my Salvation through him. I also started reading the Gospel in a different way. I started with John, now mind you this was in June of this year; I am still in John because as I read through my Bible I find myself jumping back into other books of the Gospel to find out the references that support certain verses that I am reading. After I was saved and fully gave myself to the Lord I went back and read John 3:16 again and something jumped out at me; John 3:17-18. “For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the one and only Son of God.” I mean for real, how could I not notice this sooner. I was completely blinded in my thoughts and heart but now I truly see and have been awakened. My pastor, and sorry Greg if I get this a little wrong, had stressed to us to be In the Word, Under the Word, and in Prayer. Since I heard this I have done everything I can to stay true to this. I go to church faithfully now in order to be under the word, I read the Gospel daily but more important that just reading it, I find myself trying to dissect and understand what I am reading, and finally I am in prayer throughout most of my day now. And you know what; I have never felt more complete, happy, and alive. I love God and his son Jesus Christ, my family, as well as all I come in contact with more everyday as my mornings begin.
So for those who are scared to read the Gospel, I say this to you. Stop being scared, pick up the Great Book, and open your heart. This book will speak to you if you are willing to let it and it WILL TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE.
G.E.D.D.
Read More ->>
