The Bible, Not A Text Book

Hebrews 4:11-13 (NKJV): Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 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. ¹³ And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

We are in the middle of looking at Psalm 119. We are going to deviate today. In Psalm 119, we have been discussing about reading, studying and memorizing The Bible. However, we need to ask ourselves a couple of questions. Are we treating The Bible as a Text Book? Or are we using it to help provoke change in our lives?

Many times we hear people talking about reading The Bible, because, “They feel they have to as a ‘Good Christian”‘. They will force themselves to sit and read, memorize, maybe even memorize whole books, and study on an intellectual level, because, they were told that was what they were supposed to do.

Look at what the writer of Hebrews said here about it though; “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.“

Do you see what he said? It is Living and Active. What that should mean to us is that it is something that should change us. It should be something that we should look at as a “Treasure Trove” from God. Before we get carried away on this statement, we need to understand that it is written for us to understand who God is, what His Expectations are, and what we need to do to follow Him.

When we read/study/memorize The Bible, we need to approach it expecting change to happen in our lives. We need to approach it with expectations that God will reveal more to us. No matter how many times we do this. The great thing about it being Living and Active, is that when we are going through different things in our lives, we can find comfort in The Word.

Our take away from this Scripture today should be, to know that The Bible is not a Text Book but a change device and a Treasure Trove. Approach it with expectations of change and growth.

We will pick up and continue to be looking at Psalm 119 in sections. Although,  we need Jesus to bring us back into A Relationship with God The Father, this Psalm lays a foundation of how we should be walking in our Faith walks.