The Scriptures of God!

“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” – John 5:39-40 NIV

What do you think of the Scriptures in the Bible? Apparently, most of us cannot understand them if we do not know and believe in Jesus Christ. Therefore, some of us tend not to read them at all, even after we come into faith in Jesus Christ and become one of God’s children, since we consider that believing in Jesus just comes through faith. There are some of us, who do not read the Bible, tend to twist the meaning of the Bible verses into our own understanding of the Scriptures. In other words, we like to just use the verses to suit us according to our circumstances and situations and if they do not suit us, then we just skip or forget about them.

Yes, believing in Jesus Christ just comes through faith. All of us cannot understand true and deeper meaning if the Spirit does not lead us into scriptures or we do not have the Spirit to work through us while we are reading them. This is probably because the Scriptures are God’s word that has been handed down to us to train how to become righteousness in Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and the Spirit of God gives us deeper meaning of the Bible verses (1 Corinthians 2:6-16). Not only the Spirit gives us true meaning of them, but the Spirit also gives us life in Christ (John 6:63-65). Let’s take a closer look at Matthew 16:13-17, for example. When Simon Peter answered who Jesus Christ is, he said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” After he said this, Jesus Christ replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” The Spirit of God always testifies who Jesus Christ is and transfer it into our knowledge, so that we can know and understand Him better.  Furthermore, Jesus Christ proclaims that He is the way of the life and the truth (John 14:6). Hence, if He is the life and the Spirit reveals who actually He is while we are reading the Bible, we should consider God’s word as the living Word (Hebrews 4:12) and we must pursue Jesus Christ by reading His word daily and putting it into practise (Luke 6:46-49; Philippians 1:27-28). In addition to this, not only believing in Jesus Christ is eternal life, but getting to know Him is the eternal life as well (John 17:3). I believe I know most of the New Testament but I should read the Old Testament as well, even though they are like histories and true stories that happened a long time ago, because the whole Scripture testifies and points to Jesus Christ.

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)

What I find interesting is that the Spirit of God reveals the Bible verses from time to time, even though I have not intensively studied them. This does not mean that we should humbly wait for the Spirit to reveal what each verses of the Bible mean. Instead of waiting, we should keep looking them over again, again and meditate on them until we find out what true meaning is or we should ask our spiritual mentors what they mean if we cannot comprehend the verses at all. I, sometimes, do that. In addition, I never studied the Bible intensively before I became a devotional writer. I only read the online devotionals intensively. The Spirit of God literally led me to become a devotional writer. However, I want to do more than devotional-writing, for this may be the will of God. This is the reason why I want to do a Bible College so bad, in order to get more knowledge of the Bible and improve my theological mind-set. Although I go to Unitec now, God has been working within me to develop things that I need to develop, I believe. I told everyone that God might want me to develop my faith, such as what Abraham had—putting trust in God, even though we do not know where we are being led to (Hebrews 11:8)—or to manage my time properly. Nevertheless, I think God wants to make me very humble before Him so that I would be willing to do everything for His sake, despite of any difficulties (2 Peter 1:3-11). Moreover, I am very thankful to have a theological mind-set. Putting a theological mind-set is like so natural for me that studying theology seems like no study at all. Instead of studying, it is part of my life in Jesus Christ.