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Article  
Why Read the Bible?
     

 


by Kevin Conner

Have you ever gotten your child a toy that needed assembly? Your child rips into the box and pours out all the pieces, or maybe it was a building blocks set. Your child stares at you with anticipation as a pile of pieces and parts sits on the floor in front of you. We all know the wise thing to do would be to pick up the instructions and start at step one. The instructions help us to make sense of the mess on the floor.

The Bible is God's Word for His children today. It is our instruction booklet on how to handle life and the challenges and triumphs that life brings. Life can be confusing and frustrating, yet God's Word helps us in life, but we have to pick up the instructions. We need to open up God's Word and begin to study it so that we can learn how to live life. Let's understand why we study God's Word and then how.

“You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2

Why study God's Word?

  1. Gives Wisdom – “ sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom” - God's Word gives wisdom to those that are willing to read it. Take, for example, Proverbs 7, which shows us the downfall of a foolish man into sexual sin. As we study the passage we can avoid the pitfalls of living an immoral life. (See Article) The passage not only says that the Bible gives wisdom, but it gives wisdom which leads to salvation. Which one of us does not want wisdom to work through life?
  2. Profitable for Teaching – That is, it gives us an advantage in developing a Christ-centered worldview. God's Word helps us to know correct doctrine about God and man. This is important because it gives us a better understanding of who God is and how man relates to God.
  3. Profitable for Reproof – That is, it gives us an advantage in developing a conviction or evidence for our Christ-centered worldview. Once we understand who God is and how to relate to Him, then we develop our case or conviction about our understanding.
  4. Profitable for Correction – That is, it gives us an advantage in understanding how to correct or straighten back up again that which was not correct. As we understand God and develop convictions about Him, then we will expose areas in our lives that do not line up with those convictions. God's Word then helps us to correct those inconsistencies or picks us up when we sin.
  5. Profitable for Training – That is, it gives us an advantage in being trained to keep ourselves aligned with the convictions that we have come to understand through the teaching. This may be chastisement, instruction, or nurture, but it has the idea that there is a conditioning that needs to take place.

Two other notes in consideration of why we should study God's Word: First, the end goal is that we are equipped for the service of God. We cannot do much for God if we are not studying His Word. Secondly, the passage carries with it a continual state. Notice verses fourteen and fifteen. We are to continue. The study of God's Word is not a static thing, but something that needs to take place on a continual basis. This brings us to how we can study God's Word.

There are three kinds of learning, and many people gravitate towards one in particular, but maximum learning comes when all three are incorporated. They are:

Visual – needing to see the content
Auditory – needing to hear the content
Kinesthetic – needing to work the content

Here is how this applies to the study of God's Word.

Visual
Read the Word daily. There are many plans to help you in reading the Word daily.
Read commentaries on the verses that you are studying.
Watch videos that are directed towards the passage.

Auditory
Memorize the Word. Say verses that you want to memorize aloud.
Listen to Bibles on CD.
Listen to sermons online.
Listen to others with whom you open conversations about the passage you are studying.

Kinesthetic
Share what you are learning with someone else.
Obey the Word as you come to passages that call upon you to act.

Psalm 119:11 says “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.” Inherent in this is four aspects of how to study the Word. Read, study, memorize, and obey God's Word.

Start reading today!

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