Father, thank you for the Bible, your message to us.
I've been told that The Bible is the best selling book in the world. But it also holds a few other 'firsts'. It's probably the least read and most misunderstood book in the world as well!
Admittedly, some parts are difficult to understand. (Even the Apostle Peter says that of some of Paul's letters!) But there's nothing else that can tells us about God and Jesus and how to live our lives. What really surprises me is that the Church of England and other 'major' denominations have debates and arguments which the answer is in plain black and white, recorded in the Bible for anyone to read. It almost seems that they can't be bothered to read what God passed on via the prophets.
The Bible is a complete book, authored by God and written by various people as God dictated. We have to take the Bible as a whole, we can't just pick and choose which parts we like and ignore the rest.
Paul, in II Timothy says "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness".
Reading the Bible (and doing what it says) is central to any Christian faith, yet many people I speak to tend to feel that they can ignore the Bible as long as they do what feels right to them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only are we too good at kidding ourselves that something is OK (that's what temptation is), but the Bible states this as a prophetic message;
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."It's not a new phenomenon, even back in Jesus times the scribes and lawyers (those job it was to make sure things were done in accordance to the scriptures) didn't follow it. Mark 7 verses 7 & 8 has these words
"Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men"and when the Sadducees tried to trap Jesus with a difficult question, Jesus responed with these words in Mark 12:24
And Jesus answering said unto them, "Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?"
We have to make sure that we follow God's teachings, not make up our own to suit. And for that we need to read (and understand) the Bible.
How often do you read the Bible?
Do you feel you understand it?
As a test, can you remember what you read about last time? - which chapter(s) and verse(s)?
When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, each time he replied with "It is written ...". Why was this?