Reading the Bible is not like reading a story book.
While reading the Bible we are speaking with God.
Our main concern must be understanding God’s word.
We must understand the word as God wants us to understand it, not as we want to understand it.
There is vast difference between the two kinds of understandings.
In the first type of understanding we will accept the message the Bible verses give us as it is given.
In the second type we will read the verse with some preconceived idea in our mind and then give the verse a meaning in keeping with what is in our mind.
It is like twisting the message to suit our purpose.
It is the reason behind different interpretations to the same verse.
“And he said to him, Arise and go on thy way, thy faith has brought thee recovery.(Luke. 17:19)
34 Whereupon Jesus said to her, My daughter, thy faith has brought thee recovery; go in peace, and be rid of thy affliction.( Mark. 5:34)
48 And he said to her, My daughter, thy faith has brought thee recovery; go in peace.( Luke. 8:48)”
Wherever Jesus went, He cured the sick.
Why did He cure the sick?
After every miracle of cure, Jesus said, “Thy faith has brought thee recovery.”
When we read Jesus’ miracles of curing the sick we should not come to the conclusion that Jesus came into the world to cure the physically sick people.
He came to redeem us from sin by sacrificing Himself on the Cross.
What is essential for us to get redeemed from sin is ‘Faith’ in Jesus.
No faith, no redemption.
It is to infuse faith in us that He did so many miracles of cure.
So when we read a miracle the message we are given is ‘Have faith in Jesus.
So every time we read a miracle we must experience an increase of ‘Faith’ in us.
It is not enough to read the Bible verses.
We must meditate on we have read.
The meditation must be in a prayerful mood, i.e. it must be a spiritual conversation between us and Jesus.
We must tell Jesus what we feel when read the verses and Jesus will inspire us with thoughts that will be our spiritual food.
The more we meditate the more inspirations we will get.
It is not how much we read that counts, but how we read.
It is not the length of what is read, but its depth, that will help us.
Of course we gain spiritual knowledge while we read the Bible, but mere knowledge is of no use unless it transforms our life.
Some read the Bible to prepare them for Bible quiz programs.
Quiz programs are conducted to induce us to read the Bible, but they are not an end in themselves, but means to the end, spiritual growth in line with our Biblical knowledge.
Suppose a programmer asks us a question:
Fill in the blank.
‘Love your………’
We will immediately answer:
‘Enemy’.
The answer is correct, but it will be useful for us only if we love our enemy in our life; otherwise our answer is of no use to us.
What is the use of gaining hundred percent successes in the quiz programs or tests, but zero per cent in our practical life?
The food we eat must be digested to give us physical growth.
The Bible verses we read must be lived to gain spiritual growth.
Lourdu Selvam.
No comments:
Post a Comment