|
“Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”-2 Timothy 2:15
PREAMBLE
We came across this very enlightening article in Faithgateway.com and feel that it will benefit all of us.
Please enjoy and share it with others!
INTRODUCTION
Jesus Himself is called the Word of God (John 1:1, John 1:14; Revelation 19:13). To know God, you must know His Word; to honor God, you must honor His Word; to be in touch with God, you must be in touch with His Word.
Mighty promises are given to those who master the Bible so well that the Bible masters them. We are promised spiritual stability, fruitfulness, and true prosperity as we meditate on His Word day and night (Psalm 1:1-3).
When the words of Jesus abide in us, our desires will be given to us, according to God’s will (John 15:7). Meditating on God’s Word leads to prosperity and success in our endeavors (Joshua 1:8).
We will have more wisdom than our enemies, more insight than our teachers, and more understanding than the aged (Psalm 119:97-100). We will have greater power over sin (Psalm 119:11). We will have comfort in affliction (Psalm 119:50). By drawing near to God, we have His promise that He will draw near to us (James 4:8).
These astonishing observations, these magnificent claims, these profound promises — they help us to realize how important the Bible is, and what remarkable potential we bring to our lives when we become serious students of Scripture. That’s why it’s so important that we commit ourselves to mastering the Bible so well that the Bible masters us.
Steps to Mastering the Bible
There are four steps to mastering the Bible so well that the Bible masters you:
- Read the Bible
- Study the Bible
- Memorize the Bible
- Meditate on the Bible
Seems simple. Obvious, even, for those who have been Christians for a while. Yet very few people take all four steps. Many take one step. Some take two steps. A few take three steps. Very few take all four steps.
As a result, very few people ever experience the full life transformation, the fellowship with God, the spiritual stability and strength, the power in ministry, the joy in worship, and the spiritual prosperity that the Bible promises to those who master it so well that it masters them.
- READ THE BIBLE FOR BREADTH OF KNOWLEDGE.
To begin a mastery of the Bible, you must read the Bible. This may seem self-evident to some, but to others who have never developed the habit, it is groundbreaking. Some Christians do not read the Bible, or they only read snippets that are attached to daily devotionals. This will not get you where you want to go. You must begin to read the Bible widely.
It is only by covering a lot of territory in Scripture that you gain a breadth of knowledge. If you never read the Old Testament, you will never have a general knowledge of it. If you only read the Gospels, or the Epistles, you will never have a basic grasp of the other sections of the Bible.
As a result, your life will be untouched by important truth, plus your ability to connect the dots from various different Scripture passages — a critical component of a mature Christian experience — will be limited.
The New Testament tells us that many stories in the Old Testament were “written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). If we never read those Old Testament stories, we will never gain the insight, the power, or the freedom that become ours when we do. The good news is that there is a simple way to read for breadth of knowledge.
If you read the Bible for five minutes a day, you will read the Bible over thirty hours a year! (5 minutes × 365 days = 1,825 minutes divided by 60 minutes per hour = 30.4 hours!)Think of it!! Thirty hours a year! Perhaps no other discipline will provide a breadth of Bible knowledge more easily. If you want to master the Word so well that the Word masters you, begin by reading it.
Very early in my Christian experience, I was challenged to read the Bible at least five minutes a day. I took that challenge, and have not missed my daily time in God’s Word in over forty years.
As a result, I have read the Bible for a couple thousand hours! And it was all done at the manageable pace of five minutes a day. There is no easier way I could have gained and maintained the breadth of knowledge of Scripture than by taking this simple step. I urge you to take this first step, too.
Mighty promises are given to those who master the Bible so well that the Bible masters them.
- Pick A Readable Translation.
To begin with, pick a translation that is easy for you to read. Many Christians have a New International Version of the Bible, which is a fairly readable translation. I study out of the New American Standard Bible, which is a good study Bible because the translation is very literal.
However, for those times of just reading for the story and flow, and breadth of knowledge, I have found that more conversational translations sometimes allow the Bible to come alive in a way that the NASB does not. I experimented for years with more conversational Bibles and, frankly, was disappointed with them for two reasons.
First, they often interpret unclear passages for you to make it more readable, and I didn’t always agree with the translators’ interpretation. Second, in their attempt to be conversational, they often dumb down the language so that it is unsatisfying to read.
However, I have found The New Living Translation to be an effective reading Bible. This version began as a paraphrase that author and publisher Ken Taylor wrote to help his young children understand the Bible better. In a paraphrase, you start with an English Bible and reword it to make it easier to understand.
But in 1995, Taylor commissioned a team of translation experts to go back to the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts and change whatever needed to be changed in order to bring the version up to the level of a translation. In my opinion, they did a commendable job. All Bible versions have strengths and weaknesses.
More literal translations have the strength of being closer to the original languages but the weakness of sometimes being more difficult to understand. More conversational translations are often easier to understand, but sometimes that clarity comes at the expense of accuracy, especially when a difficult passage may have two possible meanings in the original language.
For those reasons, I prefer having both a more literal translation for studying and a more conversational translation for reading. This way, I can compare both translations to gain a fuller understanding.
To be continued.
Stay blessed!
Please continue to join us on Asempa 94.7 FM – Sunday 5.30 am., Sunny 88.7 FM – Tuesdays 5:30 am; and YFM 107.9 – Sundays 6.30am; for our Radio Bible Study as well as Sunny FM 88.7 FM every Sunday at 3:30 pm. for Hymn and their Stories.
