The Bible and Christians

Throughout the month of June I have been writing a series on the importance of the Bible. Today I conclude that series with a blog post on what the Bible means to me now as a Christian.

1. Guidance

As I have stated before, the title of the blog is based on a line from Psalm 119 which says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

  

God’s Word reveals his will for humanity, as we see in it examples and lessons applicable to our lives. In that sense we can receive guidance for our day-to-day concerns by prayerfully understanding what the Bible conveys.

Most importantly it guides us to our source of salvation – Jesus! If we are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus, how can we be saved unless we hear about Jesus? As the apostle Paul said, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17). The apostle Peter similarly said, “the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” (1 Peter 1:25). Certainly you can see the importance of this book to the Christian. By it we come to the knowledge of a saving relationship with God through Jesus! Praise God! Remember that next time you pick up the book!

2. Spiritual Discernment/Warfare

“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17)

Ephesians 6 describes the “armour of God” which the Christian must use in order to withstand and combat the forces of evil. Each item in the list is defensive except for the sword, which represents both the Spirit and the Word of God.

Jesus gave us the perfect example of how the Word can be used to combat evil. When he was fasting in the wilderness, Satan appeared and tempted him three times. Each time, Jesus responded by quoting scripture! He said authoritatively, “It is written…” (See Matthew 4)

How does this apply to someone’s day-to-day life? First, if you find yourself confronted by temptation, discouragement, or confusion, you can go to the Bible to cut through these things. Have scriptures in your heart that can come to mind in time of need. Second, if confronted by some new doctrine, test it by the Bible. As I mentioned last post, if any spirits (and those who claim to have spoken to spirits) “speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20). It is important to be familiar with the Bible so we can have a ready response when someone presents us with doctrine which is contrary to what God gave us in his Word. Like Jesus, we can be ready to say, “It is written…”

3. Nourishment

The Bible says that we receive spiritual nourishment in our reading of it. As Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

This “nourishment” facilitates our growth as Christians. As the apostle Peter said, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” (1 Peter 2:2)

If you feel as though you are stagnant in your Christian life, it may be because you’re spiritually malnourished! Put aside the sinful media of the world as spend some quality time with the sincere milk of the word. (Clever, eh? I thought so)

Some final thoughts:

I feel the need to apologize to anyone who has been hurt by the venomous words I used about the Bible in the past; as an atheist I understood the Judeo-Christian scriptures to be the vain imaginings of primitive men, and I often expressed that idea without tact. I have repented and I believe God has forgiven me for the terrible things I said about his Word; I hope you can too, and I am sincerely sorry.

Thank you for reading this series on the Bible. Next I hope to begin a series on some basics of Christian life, beginning with this concept of being “born again.” ‘Til next time!