by Pastor Douglas Brauner

The Importance of Reading the Bible

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17 New Revised Standard Version

It is impossible to read a sign from the back side. I did not know if the sign was warning me about snakes. I could not tell if it was telling me that something wonderful awaited me. It was impossible for me to see if there was some kind of restriction that I had inadvertently broken because I had not seen the sign.

It was easy enough to know that this marker was a signpost, but I had no idea what was on it.

Many of us who have been baptized into God’s family only look at the back side of the Bible and do not know what its message is other than it tells us about Christ. Yes, the Bible points to Jesus from its beginning to its last “Amen, Come, Lord Jesus!” He is both the heart and the soul of Scripture. The Bible is not a moral code book or a means of gaining wealth. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, its intent is to point us to the One who is to come, still comes, and will come again.

It is the “still coming” to which Paul is directing Timothy’s heart. Paul was about to die. His letter to Timothy is his last will and testament. In his final words, he reminds Timothy, and all followers of Jesus, that the Bible is intended to keep us rooted in Christ by telling us things that we want to hear, need to hear, and sometimes do not want to hear.

But the only way we will know what God says to us is by opening the book. The Bible is God’s gift to us which reminds us that we have a Savior who indeed loves us beyond measure.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado