Applying Scripture

I’m still thinking about my last post that highlighted the wonderful blessing we have in our Bible. We have God’s inspired and completely true guide to human relationships and our relationship with God right at our finger tips. But do we put it to good use? The Bible is still at the top of the all-time best seller list, but how often is it opened and read? If you do read it, how do you use the knowledge you gain from it?  I am reminded of something Theodore Roosevelt said, “Knowing what’s right doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.”

Reading any book can just be a mental exercise unless our mind is open to receive the message the author is conveying. I have known people who read the entire Bible from cover to cover without getting anything out of it until they had a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Then the Bible suddenly came alive to them. There have been confirmed atheists who studied the Bible to disprove it and were instead convinced it is true and those people came away born again Christian believers. In my case, my parents and I attended Sunday School and church service at a small non-denominational church in rural Indiana from the time I was five until I was nine. I was exposed to Bible stories during that time. When our home burned to the ground when I was nine, the church had a dinner in our honor and lavished gifts on us. My favorite gift was a red letter King James Bible from my Sunday School teacher with a touching personal note on the inside cover. Two years later, I was carrying that Bible to vacation Bible School when John 3:16 drew me to kneel at the altar and accept Jesus Christ as my Savior and the Holy Spirit to join my reborn spirit in my heart. I began to delve into that Bible with the odd language of 1611 England. I am still amazed that at eleven I understood everything I read under the tutoring of the Holy Spirit.

Have I always done the good I have learned to do from my Bible? No, although I have always tried. It has been a slow process, but I have continually improved my obedience to God’s word. I have made the biggest advances in obedience since God made my blog possible. You see, the messages I write in my blog with application of scripture to the Christian life are just as much for me as they are for you as you read them. A friend once told me she had trouble relating scripture to her daily life until she began to read my blog. That was proof to me that God has been the inspiration for my writing all along. I may have mentioned this before, but I have gone back and read some of my posts from several years ago and I think, “Wow! That is really good. Wish I had thought of that”. Proof it has always been His message and not mine.

I encourage you to read your Bible with an open mind and an open heart to know what God has in it for you to do. I can read a familiar passage sixty times and then the sixty first time it has new and applicable meaning to my Christian life. When the words seem to jump off the page, you will know that the Holy Spirit is trying to get your attention.