Benefits of Sequentially Reading the Bible

Sequential reading of the Bible is one of the most important habits for a Christian to develop.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.
-Matthew 4:4

As Christians living in a country that grants freedom of religion, we often take our Bible for granted. Yet it has not always been that way. During the dark ages when the Bible was locked away in largely unknown languages, the people of that day sorely lacked the enlightening within it. Today the opportunity we have to freely read the Bible came at the cost of many lives and much anguish.

It’s not hard to see why the Bible is so important – it is unique in its content and standard. We see God in it, we know ourselves in it, and we find salvation in its pages. It gives us nourishment, enlightenment, and guides our steps in the direction of God’s great economy. It follows that since God’s word is available and profitable, it behooves us to read every word.

If you are going to play the game properly, you’d better know every rule.
-Barbara Jordan

My interest in the Word of God has lately been focused on gathering a few points on the benefits of sequential reading of the Bible, which I’ll list below. Note that I put them here not as an exhaustive list but as a few starter points to bring our attention to this subject.

As Christians we hold that all Scripture is inerrant and divinely inspired. “All Scripture” means every book from Genesis to Revelation. By reading from cover to cover we receive the Bible in its entirety. In this way our governing vision is all-inclusive and doesn’t lack anything. The Bible progressively reveals God in his purpose. Sequential reading is the simplest way to read the entire Bible. As a side note, there are many resources available to help you read through the Bible. I recommend this blog post on Bible Reading by Tom Smith for practical points on reading the Bible.

Sequential reading sidesteps “picky eating”, i.e. selectively reading only those passages that we prefer, or are easy to take. Paul calls some words milk and other words solid food (Heb 5:13-14). Only by taking all the words of the Scripture can we grow unto maturity.

Sequential reading encourages regular, habitual reading. Bible reading is often likened to eating, and eating is something we do every day. It’s the same with the Bible. We get spiritually hungry if we don’t read every day. Sequential reading should foster a desire to return to the Bible to pick up where you left off, and in so doing form a habit of daily reading. This will gradually nourish you with the words of the faith (2 Tim 4:6). Also, if you somehow miss a day or two of your reading, having a bookmark to come back to will make restarting easier.

Sequential reading lends itself to total comprehension. Reading a book of the Bible in full will lend you a general sketch of the book itself (rather than merely a knowledge of individual verses) which translates into a greater comprehension of the author’s burden in writing that book and an accordingly greater comprehension of the Bible. An example of this I’m currently loving is on our Christian Students’ On Campus website: a student recently blogged a summary of the entire book of Philippians which we covered sequentially last semester in our campus Bible Study. I’m willing to bet he grasps that book much more than if he had merely read scattered passages.

What other benefits are there to sequentially reading through God’s word?

Related Articles:
http://www.gracepoints.com/articles/gpstudy.php

Practical Points on Bible Reading and Reading for the Central Line

God Speaks His Purpose into Being

In my last post I mentioned that spiritual growth needs both the dew and the downpour.

Well, it turns out that the Word of God is actually said to be both dew and the downpour, and we just as much need it to grow (Deut. 32:2).

Not only does our growth depend on God’s speaking, but He Himself accomplishes His purpose by speaking.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been noticing that God’s work is accomplished by His word, His speaking.

Both in our church ministry and in my personal reading of the Bible it has been made clear that God speaks His purpose into being. A few related posts on lifeandbuilding.com neatly develop this point and are worth reading:

• How does God move?
• Working with God by Speaking
• God’s Works, Our Words

Here’s an excerpt from “Working with God by Speaking”:

“God created the universe by speaking. Once He had created man, He continued to speak to him. God did not just utter one thunderous sentence at the beginning of time and then silently govern things from afar. He spoke many times and in many portions. If we were God we may have composed one all-encompassing, enigmatic, and profound statement and then left it at that for man to eternally marvel at the wisdom of that one sentence. But God did not behave this way. It seems that He never finishes His speaking, that speaking is part of His disposition.”

 

I’d like to give you some Scriptural examples of how God speaks His purpose into being:

• God’s re-creation account in Genesis 1 involved His speaking:

“And God said, Let there be light,” is one of the most memorable passages in the Bible because it combines the most ineffable creation with the most facile device – speaking. Light, day, dry land, all the plants and animals, and all of creation came into being through His word.

• God’s speaking in many portions and ways in the prophets comprises the Old Testament (Heb. 1:1):

When He wanted to find Adam and Eve in the garden, He called for them. When He wanted to give the Israelites a covenant He spoke it to Moses. He spoke to Samuel as a youth, calling Him by name. He spoke to the Israelites through Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and other prophets. “God, having spoken of old in many portions and in many ways to the fathers in the prophets” (Hebrews 1:1).

• The incarnation in John’s gospel is of the Word (John 1:1, 14):

A word defines, expresses, and conveys something. The birth, living, and work of Jesus Christ explained and expressed God to those who were with Him. Years later, after the Lord was taken up into heaven, the apostle John said of Him that he had heard, beheld, and handled the Word of life (1 John 1:1). He was visible, audible, tangible, and yet He was the Word. Who He was and Who He was not and what He did and did not do all spoke to John. As the attendants of the Pharisees confessed, “Never has a man spoken as this man has.” (John 7:46).

• The Word is Spirit and life (John 6:63):

In resurrection the Lord Himself and His word are Spirit and life. That very Spirit and that very life entered his disciples and inspired them to write the gospels, the epistles, and revelation. Thus the One who told Peter (Matt 16:18) that Peter was a stone for building the church years later through Peter told us that we are stones for God’s house (1 Pet. 2:5). This is related to the next point.

• The Scripture has been Divinely inspired:

All the apostles upheld that the Scriptures were of divine authorship. Paul told Timothy that all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16). Peter pointed to Paul’s writings as Scriptures, and instructed us to heed them as to a lamp shining in a dark place, reiterating that no prophecy of Scripture is of one’s own interpretation, but is of one borne by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:19-21, 3:15-16). John simply told us exactly when and what the Spirit instructed him to write (Rev. 1:10-11, 2:19; cf. 10:4)

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I appreciate that God didn’t merely thunder one terse statement from heaven to men. His speaking is rich and varied. I also am thankful that the Bible isn’t merely a Judeo-Christian manual or workbook. Rather it is a story that, in the course of the people’s lives it describes, unfolds God’s purpose for their time and ours.

I recently finished a study of Exodus, and in it there’s this picture presented of a priest’s garments being a woven work of gold and linen thread. In this picture the gold thread signifies Divinity and the linen thread signifies humanity. That exemplifies how the Bible speaks God. Woven throughout it are both the human and divine; it truly manifests His wisdom and design.

To develop this line further, can we see God’s speaking being His work elsewhere in the Bible or in church history?

What the Bible says of itself: 10 Items

Have you ever heard what the Word of God says it is to us?

The first line from my current favorite introduction to the Bible by the Gideons, which you can read on my friend’s blog, says “The Bible contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers.”

Almost everyone agrees that the Bible, among all things worth studying, stands out. It has stood the test of time, it has survived opposition, and it has proven invaluable to believers worldwide.

Recently I visited a Bible school in Anaheim, California. There we were given 10 items of what the Word of God says of itself. Broad as the universe and focused on man, these items define us and God as much as we define the Bible. Enjoy!

1. Christ

“…and His name is called the Word of God.” -Rev. 19:13

2. Spirit

“…receive the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God.” -Eph. 6:17

3. Life

“…the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” -John 6:63

4. Light

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” -Psa. 119:105

5. Food

“…man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.” -Matt. 4:4

6. The Seed

“Having been regenerated not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the living and abiding word of God.” – 1 Pet. 1:23

…”Behold, the sower went out to sow.” -Matt 13:3

7. Rain

“For just as the rain comes down And the snow from heaven, And does not return there, Until it waters the earth And makes it bear and sprout forth, That it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me vainly, But it will accomplish what I delight in, And it will prosper in the matter to which I have sent it.” Isa. 55:10-11

8. Dew

“Let my teaching drop like the rain; Let my speech distill like the dew, Like raindrops upon tender grass, And like abundant showers upon herbage.” -Deut. 32:2

9. A Sharp Sword

“For the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” -Heb. 4:12

10. Fire & A Hammer

“Is not My word thus – like fire, declares Jehovah, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” -Jer. 23:29

These 10 items are from chapter 2 of a book called “Speaking for God”, available here at Living Stream Ministry.

Tell me about your experience of God’s word. How has it impacted you?