Why study the Bible?

Verse of the Week:

Ephesians 1:17: "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better."

Why Study the Bible?

I remember the time when Dad and Mom presented me with my very first Children's Bible at the age of 8 years old. I was so excited about my new Bible that I was determined to read the Bible all the way through, from the beginning to the end.  So I started in the book of Genesis and delighted in the classic stories of Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Issac, Jacob, and, of course, Joseph and his coat of many colors.  Then Exodus came, and I was swept away by the stories of Moses and the Israelites and their escape from Pharaoh.  Then Leviticus came... ummmmm....I wish I could say that I loved reading about the rules for burnt offerings, rules for grain offerings, rules for sin offerings, clean and unclean animals, rules about leporsy, Passover, and well...the list goes on; lets face it, I was 8 years old!  At that age, I read the Bible for it's stories, and Leviticus looked like a foreign language to me!  So I got frustrated, and on the shelf the Bible went collecting dust for a few months.  Then a few months later I got some inspiration again to read the Bible from the beginning to the end, but I couldn't remember where I left off from last time...sooooooooooo I started over again in the book of Genesis.  I continued to read Exodus; then once again, Leviticus came...Borrrrinnnnggg!  And I gave up again.  And the process would start over.  During those first two years, I must have read Genesis and Exodus a thousand times, but nothing in the rest of the Bible.  Finally my Mom encouraged me to just skip Leviticus and look at other stories in the Bible, and I must say the experience proved to be much better for me. As I grew older and matured in my faith, I began to understand the purpose of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy and their significance to the story line of the Bible, but it sure did take awhile!

Why study the Bible?  Many people in today's society consider it out dated and old fashioned. After all, who wants to read about how to sacrifice a bull or what to do when Leprosy goes away (a big help considering we don't even get Leprosy today!).  Even though the Bible is one of the most sold books in America, most Bibles are stuck on people's shelves collecting dust.  Why should Christians study the Bible?

Suppose you are sitting in a coffee shop with a cup of espresso with new friend you just met.  Suppose you want to get to know him/her better.  I suppose you would start asking your friend questions to learn more about them.  You would listen to his/her answers and stories and get a better grasp of your friend's character, personality, likes and dislikes, and many other things.  Now suppose you are in the same scenario,  but instead of asking questions and listening, you start to stare at the TV screen mounted up on the wall  of the coffee shop watching your favorite NFL team play football.  That is all that you and your friend do is sit and watch television in the coffee shop.  Did you learn anything about your friend then?  Probably not, except maybe that they can watch TV just like you!  The same thing with God. When you accept Christ into your heart, He comes to live inside of you.  He places His spirit in you and you now are born again into a new life of righteousness through the blood of Christ.  Don't you want to know more about the one who lives in your heart?  We learn more about Jesus and his character from reading the Bible.   It shows who He is, what He does, and how He acts.  It is a love story that starts off showing how man creates a mess for himself; how man tries to repair his messed up condition by following all of God's laws but fails; and how God sends his son Jesus to come and rescue man from his sin and repairs his heart.  It is a story of sacrificial love that is expressed to all people. Every book of the Bible is significant in understanding this story including boring ole Leviticus! ;) When we fail to study the Bible we might as well be those friends staring up at the TV screen in the coffee shop...clueless.


Sadly enough, people are dependent on Church to learn about God, and those that don't go to church, create their own concept of who they think God is instead of reading the Bible.  By creating who you think God is, you can then determine what standards you live by, no matter how good or bad your standards are.  This can be very misleading and dangerous. You could create a god completely opposite of the God of the Bible!

By studying the Bible, it allows us to be able to distinguish the thoughts that come into our mind.  Are they God's thoughts or the World's thoughts?  Romans 12:2 says, Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.  We renew our minds to be more Christ-like by studying the Word and understanding who we are in Christ. By studying God's character in the Bible, it enables you to see things through God's eyes instead of the world's eyes, and your heart is transformed into His likeness. You begin to display the fruits of the spirit, love, mercy, goodness, forgiveness because you discover those are the traits that are displayed in God and thus the same traits dwell in your own born again heart. As a result, when it comes to making decisions and hearing what God wants, we know what to do because we know of His character.  


As Paul says in Ephesians 1:17, "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better."

May our deepest desire and prayer be to know our Lord better. AMEN!