Reading The Bible

Reading The Bible

I’ve taken to reading the Bible. I’ve always been a Believer but a passive one. I know of the stories of course, the four gospels and such. I know the big stories that I was told when I was just a wee-one. However, I never really and truly attempted to read the Bible on a regular basis, to learn it, to study it, to apply it.

Reading The Bible

Luckily I have a friend who is a steadfast Believer and Scripture studier. She has motivated and challenged me to start reading the Bible and learning all I can. I say she challenged me but she didn’t outwardly throw down a challenge to me. No, it was an internal challenge I gave myself BECAUSE of her steadfastness in the Scripture.

I started with Hebrews. Finished it and learned a lot. Here are a few points I took away:

  • Go first to God for advice and guidance
  • It’s about Christian maturity, a reminder to stay the course.
  • Listening to Christ means not merely hearing but also OBEYING.
  • It’s not enough to be steadfast and firm but our courage and hope reveals our faith is real.
  • Combine knowledge with faith.
  • Relationship with God thru Christ.
  • Careful study and observation rather than opinions and half-hearted efforts.
  • Makes sure your life bears fruit.
  • Train hard, run well.
  • MORE PRAYER
  • Think about what I am doing that might be spiritually ineffective or obsolete.

There is more, like five ways to be thankful and how real love of others produces tangible actions but I will save those for another post perhaps.

A real simple way for me to begin to take action: Praise God early in the day, then again in the hurried middle, and at the end of the day as it winds down.

My same friend whom inspired me to start this Bible reading challenge has a few reading plans over at her site at Cosmopolitan Cornbread. I chose the Old and New Testament Bible Reading Plan.

Another thing I am learning? That there are regular normal people in the Bible that are useful.

Some do small things like hiding Israelite spies. That’s all, and her name was Rahab and she was a prostitute who owned a lodge or brothel. She didn’t have to do tasks like building a colossal ark or parting of the seas. She was someone I could probably relate to and be friends with.

When I was young, I was told about these gargantuan miracles that no normal present day person could perform, well…. they ended up just being stories to me. But now, I see real people in the Bible. I’m not saying Noah and Moses were not real, of course they were. I only wish I was told these other, more realistic, stories when I was younger. But who knows, as a child I probably wouldn’t have been able to comprehend such normal stories. I needed big hollywood-like stories to be awed and pay attention.

Care to join me?

Learn more about Carol Marks, the blogger.