Books are there for us to read for fun, academic studies, or both. I used to hate reading any kind of books when I was young. I thought reading them are a waste of time.
But when I became a Christian, everything has been changed. I now love reading Bible stories and Christian books.
I do not have a favourite Bible story but if I have to pick one from the Old Testament, it will probably be David and Goliath (1 Samuel chapters 16-17). I have not read every Bible story so I do not know them all, to be honest.
The story of David
The Bible story of David and Goliath is about David, a young shepherd and an inexperienced warrior, who defeats Goliath, a giant and experienced warrior, and later goes on to become a king.
David defeated Goliath because he believed in God and that battle was God’s, not human’s. The story also is about overcoming anything if people stick with God all the time.
This story resonates with me. It is because I have cerebral palsy.
Nonetheless, like David, I believe I could do anything and overcome any obstacles if I set my mind on it. I am also a devout Christian, which means that I believe in God wholeheartedly.
Loving God wholeheartedly means loving the Bible since it is His word. I do not just mean loving and applying specific verses but I do mean loving every verse, chapter and book of the Bible. We have to be immersed with it so much that it becomes a part of our life.
Therefore, we have to continually soak in it. I know I have to!
Christian Faith
The main reason I can think of why Christian faith is challenging probably is that we do not know God enough.
In order to know and have a relationship with God, who is our heavenly Father, all we have to do is read the Bible and pray accordingly since the Bible is God’s word and prayer is the way to have a conversation with Him, right?
Yes, it is but it is more than that if we want to have an intimate relationship.
Since God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit when we read the Bible, we do not have a high standard of knowledge to understand everything in the Bible accurately. Since the Holy Spirit comes from the Trinity and is divine, our knowledge often cannot match revelations of God through the Spirit.
This is the reason why we need to work together, especially with those who have gone before us.
Commentaries are great tools to understand God’s word more in-depth. One or more good commentaries and the Bible go hand in hand. Christian books are also one of the great tools to understand theological topics.
Since I have learned that commentaries and Christian books are extremely good for understanding God’s word and any theological topics, I now use them all the time when I am writing devotionals and articles. I also use them for my studies.
Therefore, let us soak into reading and researching commentaries and Christian books if we want to understand God’s word and any theological topics we desire to learn. This obviously means that we should remember to put the Bible first since it is God’s word.
However, before putting the Bible as our priority, let us consider who we are dealing with when we read it. Since there might be several hundreds of prophecies about Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, it is clear that He is the one we are dealing with.
While He was proving a point that He comes from God to Jewish Leaders, who were trying to persecute Him, Jesus said, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John chapter 5, verses 39-40)
Christ was described as the Living Word when He came into the earth and we find this in the first chapter of John’s Gospel. He revealed who God is and was the embodiment of God’s message (John chapter 1, verse 14).
Although the main point that Christ came into the earth is to die in our place and give us eternal life through faith in Him, another point was to illustrate how we are to live as God’s children.
And He anointed and trained apostles to continue what He was doing and to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ after He has resurrected and gone to heaven to be with His Father. So, everyone could be saved (Romans chapter 10, verses 4-15).
Now, we have the Bible in front of us. Some people have strict rules about how to read the Bible whether it is through reading or hearing through audio-Bible. However, I hardly believe that there are not any rules for reading the Bible. It is through the way we are most comfortable with.
For example, I read the Bible visually or audibly as using both ways is most comfortable as it helps me to focus.
Now, let the Bible change and transform us as we dwell in it! After all, Jesus prayed, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”(John chapter 17, verse 3)