One foundational truth of reading Scripture is that you need the whole Bible. I mentioned here that you shouldn't discourage yourself by getting too ambitious when you first start committing to reading your Bible each day. However, once you get started, make it your goal to eventually get through every single book of the Bible. If you just stick to the New Testament or if you avoid some books, you will leave yourself with an unbalanced and fragmented appreciation of God. You will also miss out on some of the best ammunition for fighting sin and finding encouragement. I'll give examples in the next couple of posts.
Paul exhorted Christians to appreciate the value of reading the Old Testament:
"For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." Romans 15:4
"Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come." 1 Corinthians 10:11
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17
God gave us the Bible as the best explanation of who He is and what He created us for. Unlike some books, there is nothing in the Bible that is there by accident. It is all important. We can't expect to have a full and abundant Christian life if we only listen to half of God's message.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment