In addition to the regular individual and group Bible studies that we always offer, this Saturday, January 12, at the Brooklyn Central Library at Grand Army Plaza we will be hosting a special day of discussions and teachings about how and why you can make God’s Word a priority in 2019. Search for \”What\’s The Word?\” on our “Events” tab on our site, or visit our Facebook page “The Way BK”, or click the following link that will take you to our “Brooklyn Bible Studies” page on Meetup.com (https://www.meetup.com/Brooklyn-Bible-Studies/events/257681040/ )
Even if you aren’t religious at all, you know the Bible is something special. But what is it exactly? What difference does the Bible make in the Human experience? Some think of the Bible, and the Christian faith generally, as a restrictive, oppressive, harsh thing. But this is an incomplete and frankly inaccurate perspective. The authors of the Bible used various metaphors to describe the effects that God’s Word can have on a Human life for our good as God has designed. Here are four that hopefully will move you to consider allowing God to influence you through His Word.
The Bible is food for your soul.
When the Apostle Paul wrote to his pupil Timothy he told him that he needed to continually be nourished on the healthy (“sound”) words of God (1 Timothy 4:6). Too often we feed our minds and lives exclusively on the empty fodder of news bulletins, social media postings, celebrity gossip, and sports updates. Even more useful information that we learn in scholastic or philosophical pursuits is still too limited for the vast needs of our souls. We have a craving for knowledge that will fill our empty spaces. Fortunately for us, the Word of God will do just that. If we ingest the truths that it reveals then we will be nourished completely and eternally. The Bible is food for your soul.
The Bible is a light for your path.
Life is filled with many difficult choices and they are made all the more challenging given the mysterious and unpredictable nature of the World in which we live. Sometimes God describes this aspect of life like walking down a dark path, which is a scary experience. But we are not helpless. God has given us his Word that the Psalmist says is a “lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105; see also 2 Peter 1:19-21). When you hold God’s Word in your heart, you never have to be in the dark again. The Bible is a light for your path.
The Bible is a Seed to grow you up.
Jesus (Mark 4:1-20) and Peter (1 Peter 1:23-25) both use the metaphor of “Seed” to describe what the Word of God is. When you read God’s Word you are not merely learning facts. When read with the right perspective and attitude, you are internalizing the life-giving agent that God has designed to give and grow life. Just like plants and babies, eternally Fruit-Producing and Image-Bearing people of God start with a “Seed”. The Bible is a seed to grow you up.
The Bible is a Weapon against evil.
Now hold on a second: If you’re hoping this gives you license to tear people up with Bible verses out of some misguided rage, then you misunderstand what I’m saying. Scripture is said to be “the Sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17b) and it is “sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow” (Hebrews 4:12). But the point here is not that I should look to use the Bible to cut others down. Instead I need to recognize that it is first the Spirit’s weapon against evil within me. When I come in contact with God’s Word I should be convicted and changed since it is “able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is not creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:12b-13). Indeed, disciples should preach the Word to lost and sinful people so as to bring them to repentance (2 Timothy 2:24-26; 3:14-4:5). But the Bible is not a weapon that we wield in fighting against other people. It is God’s weapon that he wields to drive out sin and darkness from within each and every one of us (starting with myself) who come to His Word. Thank God that the Bible is a weapon against evil.
Since the Bible is such a wonderfully and usefully versatile tool that equips people for all that anyone could ever need (2 Timothy 3:16-17), you need to make it a priority in your life. Jesus said that if you will “abide” (to make it a dwelling place, where you live each day) in His Word, then “you are truly disciples of mine; and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). Read the Word and be Free.