It is a necessity that every person who has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior should read the whole Bible (Old and New Testaments). There are so many things that Christians are encouraged to read. There are a multitude of “Christian” books available to read. They are often written by famous Pastors or “Bishops”. In them, you learn things like how to “maximize your moments” or “rule your day”.
Well, these things may seem very important. But what good is it to maximize a moment when you are not completely certain how to live a lifetime. So, it seems more important to know how to be sure where you are going to spend it than to feel in control of a day. Christians need to know what is found in the pages of the Bible.
So, your first assignment is to read the Bible in its entirety, at least once. However, that is all you are being tasked with doing. You do not need to take notes. You do not need to have highlighters. You do not even need to understand everything you read. Although all of these things all these other things are helpful, but God does not require them to illuminate His word to for the believer.
There are plans to help you read the Bible in a year. There are plans to help you read the Bible based on subjects. NO! You are to take the Bible (the word of God) and read it from front to back. Genesis to Revelation. You do not need a plan or a strategy. Just a determination to complete the entire book. Its that simple.
Why is it important to just read the Bible? Well first of all every Christian who has that privilege, should expose themselves to what God has said. This experience must be pure and unsullied by the opinions of others (even yours). You also need to learn to expect that God will speak directly to you through his word. Christian’s must train themselves to actively read the scriptures looking for God’s revelation.
God’s word is His revelation about who He is. Genesis to Revelation gives Christian’s insight into the nature, the character, the power, the heart, and the integrity of Almighty God. It also clarifies a basic truth about God. He wants us to know Him. Other ¨ Christian ¨ books tell you the mind of a man as it pertains to God. The Bible reveals to you the mind of God, as it pertains to man.
God’s word also tells us who we are in God’s eyes. It tells us how we came into being. Genesis alone reveals to us the depth of God’s love for us. He created an entire world in anticipation of our every need. We see that it has always been God who reached out to mankind and not the other way around. God’s word tells us about sin and our need for salvation. It illuminates God’s grace and mercy toward us. No amount of teaching about ¨maximizing a moment” or any other nonsense men can come up with can reveal these things to us.
It is so necessary that we ingest the contents of the Word of God, the Bible. Studying is good, and a plan of how to read the Bible in a year is good. However, cover the basics first. Just sit down and determine to read the entire Bible at least once without the aids devised by men to make it more ¨meaningful¨. The word of God is already full of meaning. It can stand on its own without any help from us.
From the heart of, Sister Taylor
Some Scripture references
Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Psalm 1:2-3 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.
Psalm 119: 103-105 How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 104 Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:130 The entrance of Your words gives light;
It gives understanding to the simple.
I Thessalonians 2:13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
James 1:25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.