My knowledge of Scripture is nowhere near exhaustive. In fact, the more I read and study, the more I realize that I need to read and study. How about you? How is your Bible reading/study going? Do you have a study Bible? By that, I mean do you have a Bible that you can mark in, underline, have written notes and questions in the margins, etc…?.
One of the goals that Sandra and I have set for Three Point is to be a church that reads, loves, wrestles with, and prays about God’s Word. To that end, many of our sermons are exegetical. That’s just a fancy word for opening up the Bible, reading God’s Word and letting it speak. Oh, there are times when we will pick a topic and look to what God has to say about it, but we feel that the more scripture we can read, the better off we will be.
We have been in the book of Romans for a while and we are not quite half-way through. We will look at Chapter 5. We will then take a short break from Romans and pick it back up in September. Spending 30 or so minutes covering a chapter is not near enough time to see all that God is saying through the Biblical writers. I want to encourage you to take out your Bibles, re-read the chapter, make notes, underline words and promises, write out questions, pray over things that you may have missed the first, second, or third time.
Tim Challies puts it like this, “Christians should be drawn to the Bible the way a baby is drawn to his mother’s milk. It is the Bible that feeds us, that nourishes us, and that equips us as saints that bring glory and honor to God.” As Simon Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!” When we wish to live in a way that pleases God, we must turn to him, to the ways he has revealed himself in Scripture. If we want to thrive as Christ followers, we will read the Bible and will want to read the Bible.
Go back over Romans Chapters 1-4. As you read through them, see what God is saying to you through Paul. There are many study Bibles out there. I can help you find one. Don’t be afraid to write in the Bible. I believe sometimes we want it to stay nice and pristine – and boy does it shine on the shelf! I believe the adage is true that a person’s whose Bible is falling apart is living a life that isn’t – or something close to that. Above is a picture of one of my study Bibles so you can see a little of what I mean.