“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)
As I lay sleepless for several hours over the past 3 nights, the Lord laid a burden on my heart. I want to share that burden with you in the hopes that it brings you under convection or at least helps you. It’s been a burden on me on many occasions and I’ve shared this burden with my Sunday school class. I’m writing this to help you, not to lift me up or tear you down, just to help.
Many people believe that they know what the Bible says. People like those that profess to be Christians because they had parents or grandparents that were Christians, so they think they’re Christians by default; people who think that since they’ve watched The Ten Commandment, The Greatest Story Ever Told and The Passion of Christ they know exactly what the Bible says; people who go to church regularly and listen to the preacher, but then go home and abandon the Lord until the next church service; kids that go to Sunday school, but never read their lesson and then sit bored in church. I’m sorry, but people like these, and others like them, have no idea what the Bible says. In order to know what it says, you have to read it and not just portions of it periodically, I mean read the entire counsel of God from the first word of Genesis to the last word of Revelation.
I have known many people that have professed to know the scriptures and were willing to tell you their opinion about them, including myself (in my distant past). The problem is that you cannot know what the Bible says unless you read it. It’s an incredible source of history, information and wisdom that is well worth reading. I’m a slow reader and a horrible aloud reader, but I’ve still managed to read the Bible from cover to cover 4 times and I’m on my 7th trip through the New Testament. I know several people who read the entire Bible every year. I need to do better, but there are many people that have never read the entire Bible. You cannot know what the Bible says unless you read it for yourself.
I challenge all of you. If you haven’t read the Bible, please make it a personal goal to read the Bible from cover to cover. It only takes 3-4 chapters per day to read it in one year. It’s time very well spent.