Tuesday, February 12, 2013

The BIBLE: From "Reading" to "Understanding"

I often get the question, "how do I improve my Christian life?" My response is always simple, "Prayer and reading the Bible." The responses I receive vary, from "always" to "nope." Most generally these conversations exist between a teenager and I, but I have often found that this is true, for the most part, with all Christians. We all feel a need to be better in our Christianity, and should, otherwise, we may be so far from God we think we are perfect. You see, to become better in your Christian life it takes an increase in "communication" with God. That is you talking to Him and Him talking to you. Prayer is our way of talking to Him, and the cell phone is His way of talking to us! NOW, how many times has that happened. The Bible is His way of communication to us, we don't have prophets anymore to speak God's Word to us, we have, "that which is perfect," the Bible. It is His communication tool, not reading it is like hearing the phone ring, and letting the voice mail get it. The person on the other line didn't want to talk to a machine, they wanted to talk to you. GOD WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!
The statement then is given, "I don't understand that book!" This I understand, it is hard to read something that you can't understand. However, understanding can be gained by using tools that God has equipped us with. I want to briefly explain some tools, that will help us in three areas: 1.Our Understanding, 2.Our Relationship with God, 3. Application to Our lives.
                      

               OUR TOOL'S:

  1. Communication: Prayer is not only the place where we talk to God about forgiveness, help, and thanksgiving. It's also the place where we can make a petition for understanding. We have the great ability through prayer to talk to the author of the book. The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16, "all scripture is given by inspiration of God."  He wrote the book, why not ask Him to help you understand it. It's kind-of like having the ability to ask William Shakespeare why he allowed Romeo and Juliet to die. You would be asking to gain understanding, why not ask God.
  2. Examination: The next step to go from just reading the Bible to understanding the Bible is examination. It is very dangerous for the Christian to take a piece of text out of context. In examining our text, we are less likely to make this mistake. Before taking a piece of scripture and making it a doctrine to live by or thinking God is trying to tell you to do something, we need to consider the following things to get the most out of our Bible study.  
  • History- Ask yourself: What was going on during this time period? What was the culture like? Who is the Author writing to? These questions can give you a greater understanding of the text you're reading.  
  • Word Usage- Words can be misunderstood, we often forget that we have resources to help us with these miss understandings.  Noah Websters wrote a book called a dictionary! Crazy, right?If a word is hard for you to understand, never be afraid to look it up. Also, the Bible was written in Hebrew (old testament) and Greek (new testament). By knowing this, we can go back to the original language and gain a greater understanding of the word which will, in return, give us a greater understanding of the verse.
  • Proof Text- The Bible is the best Commentary for the Bible. Sometimes, by finding verse that is similar to what you are reading can give you more in the way of understanding.
  • GOOGLE-Enough Said!

      3. Meditation: This is a word that often is miss understood by people. They believe that they need to set in a floor, on a piece of carpet, saying, "OOOOOOMMM!!!" This is not the case, what I am speaking of today is, contemplating, reflecting, thinking about what you have just read. When I tell people this, usually their next statement is, "I can't remember what I just read." This is a problem that can easily be solved by one of two things. You can slow down in the speed at which you are reading, or you can read less at one time. I suggest the ladder. Remember reading your Bible is not like reading a textbook or a novel. Your reading it for an entirely different reason. Your reading the Bible to gain a greater understanding of God, his purpose, his plan, and to get help in your life. Slow down, and see what God has for your life, in reading His word.  When you finish your text, don't just start in on the next task for the day. THINK about it. Ask yourself some questions like: How does this apply to my life? What does God want me to remember about this?

I hope by reading this you will have found that the Bible is your best friend in life and that it will help you through whatever you may come across in your life. It is not a book written to confuse you but to help you. Remember we don't live in the stone ages, we can go from reading the Bible to understanding the Bible by using the tools God has given us access to, and hey, remember your pastor is always there to help you!
    Resources That Can Help:


Pastor Corey C. Bradley


 

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