Grace For The Journey

 How would you define the way you have been handling the Scriptures lately?

Would you say you have been . . .

Searching them? . . .

Skimming through them? . . .

Or

Skipping them altogether?

The Bible says in Acts 17:11, “The Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and searched the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”

The Bereans did not skip the Scriptures,

Nor did they skim through them.

The Bereans searched the Scriptures

And in so doing,

Set a noble example

For every child of the Most High God.

To search the Scriptures is to study them and sift through them slowly, looking for every speck of gold contained within them.  Charles Spurgeon once said, “No man who merely skims the book of God can profit thereby; we must dig and mine until we obtain the hid treasure.  The door of the Word only opens to the key of diligence.”

If we really understood the Bible to be God’s love letter to us, would we dare skim through the Scriptures . . . or even skip them altogether?  Heaven forbid!

We confess what we truly believe

About the Word of God with our lives,

In the way we come to the Scriptures and search them,

And the way we consider the Christ,

Who is revealed within every page.

On the road to Emmaus, Jesus rebuked two of His disciples, who were thoroughly dejected after the Christ was crucified and buried.  The Bible says in Luke 24:25-27,32, “’O foolish ones,’ the risen Savior said, ‘and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’  (Then, as He walked along the road with the two men, the living Word held a Bible study) “Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”  Later, the two disciples marveled, saying to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

One of the most amazing things I have learned over the years in searching through the Scriptures is that no matter how often I have read a particular passage, there is always something new to be uncovered!

The reason this happens for every serious student of the Scriptures

Is because the Word of God is living and active

And sharper than any double-edged sword

(Hebrews 4:12).

All other books, no matter how well written, are dead.  Only the Bible is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16) and alive, and it makes us more alive every time we come to it with a heart set on searching its pages for a fresh encounter with God.

When we realize the truth

That every page of the Bible

Testifies to the truth of our precious Savior and Lord,

Is there anything that could keep us

From searching them often?

If our vision and view of the Gospel is clear, there is nothing that could stand in our way.

The more we read the Bible,

The more we see Jesus;

And the more we see of Jesus,

The more we read the Bible.

There is no more compelling motivation than that to cause us to diligently search the Scriptures . . . and keep on searching them.  The truths of the Gospel draw us to its well, that we may drink in all of its living water.

Regardless of where this blog finds you today, open the Book and let it speak into your life.  It will lead you to Jesus, Who will . . .

• Meet you in your place of need.
• Answer your questions.
• Calm your fears.
• Give you the strength to overcome every obstacle that stands in your way.
• Will be the death of doubt and discouragement.

There is milk for those who are babes in searching and meat for those who have spent a lifetime doing it.  There is something for everyone who is willing to search and that something is the only thing we really need in both life and death . . . or more accurately, Someone . . .  and His name is Jesus Christ.  As one writer once said, “May [the Bible] be our pillow at night and our guiding light by day.”

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”