Sometimes reading the Bible can feel like just something else we have to do. The demands on our time and energy are endless and something easy to skip is reading our Bible daily.
But it is truly to our benefit to read our Bible daily. We are called to be like Christ, so we must know what Christ is like. We must know what His example to us is to grow in our faith and relationship with Him.
The other day we talked about how God will use our struggles if we let Him. You can check out that post here. God wants to make us into His likeness. That doesn’t happen automatically. Automatically we are selfish and self-centered. Jesus is not. We must read His word and spend time with Him in prayer to know who He is and who He wants us to be.
If Jesus, while on earth, saw the value understanding the scriptures for Himself then we certainly should too!
Luke 2:41-52 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” 49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them. 51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
Even as a child Jesus had a desire to sit with those who taught the scriptures, to listen to them and ask them questions. He knew the importance of knowing those scriptures. We should follow the example of Jesus by striving to know those scriptures as well by reading them ourselves as well as faithfully attending a Bible believing church and learning what we can from the pastors and teachers; we should seek to ask quality questions and grow in understanding.
Life is hard. Life is incredibly hard. Knowing the truth of God’s word can help you through the toughest of times. We need to know God’s word to be able to discern truth from lies. Jesus did. If He did, we certainly do.
Matthew 4:1-11 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Jesus was tempted by the devil himself! The devil even threw scripture at Him! But Jesus knew the scriptures and He knew when they were being used incorrectly and He was able to respond with truth! When we are walking through a difficult season, we must be able to discern the truth of God from lies regardless of who the lies come from or how good they sound. We can only do this if we are spending time in the Bible and we know the truth! It’s a powerful resource for us as Christians and we take it for granted! We don’t invest the time we should to grow in truth! Start today.
Be encouraged. We all struggle. We all fail. We don’t do everything we want or need to. Don’t put an unrealistic expectation on yourself but begin to seek and strive for a bit more! One tiny nugget at a time!
Be blessed.
~A.E.
