Bible Options
Hello Everyone,
Last week we focused on the idea of prayer based on the model
presented in the Lord’s prayer. This week we will look at what Bible
reading looks like and how it functions in our daily lives. For an
overview let’s look at the list of things to do in a quiet time.
· Pray that God will open
your eyes to what you are reading, after all, it is a spiritual book.
· Pray for others as God
puts them on your heart, keep a list.
· Read the scriptures
according to a plan. This broadens your understanding of the Bible.
· Write down a few sentences
that describe what you have read. This imprints the learning on your
mind.
· Thank God for the reading
and pray back the concept that He has shown you.
· Put what you read into
practice if you are able during that day.
Reading through the Scriptures in a haphazard manner will often lead
us to false doctrine and incorrect use of Scripture in our daily lives.
As an example let’s look at Luke 6:38. I can’t count the number of
times that this has been quoted to get people to put money in the offering
plate. It’s the biggest get rich quick verse in the Bible.
Perhaps I’m being a bit hard on those who have to fleece the flock…
Luke 6:20-38 Let’s look at this like you would in a Quiet Time.
First you would read through the context and look for simple understanding
of the text. What does the Bible say? In simple language, what
is the message of the passage? You may or may not choose to write this
down. I opt not to write down the obvious when I study. Let’s
look at a few simple observations for a moment.
Verses 20-23: Blessings, Gladness, and Joy result from suffering
hardship for the kingdom of God. Jesus promises that when we are
persecuted and treated badly for following Him that we are following in the
footsteps of great men. He says that these hardships are badges of
honor that we wear. It would be like ribbons that a war veteran wears
that displays valor in battle.
Verses 24-26: Woe’s, in other words bad spiritual times.
This is stuff that should be avoided at all costs. Just as an
observation, look at the way that it is laid out. Verse 24 is the
direct opposite of Verse 20, 25 is the opposite of 21, and 26 is opposite of
23. The message is that when we are doing well, are well fed and “it’s
all good”, it’s not all good. We stand the possibility of becoming
spiritual wrecks. Trouble and hard times build us up in Christ while
good times cause us to fall away from Christ.
Verses 27-38: Jesus told us in the previous verses what is good
and bad for our spiritual lives. What is it that builds up our
spiritual lives when we walk the daily walk? We certainly don’t want
to volunteer for persecution. ON the same token, we don’t want to give
up a comfortable lifestyle just so that we can be religious. By the
way, if we give up the worldly goods to be spiritual, our pride will be
built up and we will die of spiritual snootiness.
Verses 27-28: These reflect back on verses 20 through 24.
What do we do to those who mistreat us? It reminds me of a little song
we used to sing years ago. “You can talk about me just as much as you
please, I’ll talk about you down on my knees, all my sins are washed away,
I’ve been redeemed.”
Verses 29-38: What do we give to other people who persecute or
demand things from us?
29: If he hits you, give him the opportunity to hit you again…
In other words, don’t fight back for your rights. If he takes your
coat, give him your shirt as well. His act of violence is turned into
an act of grace.
31: Give others the same treatment you want…
32-34: The world works on a credit basis. If you love, do
good, or lend to others they are expected to give back to you the same
thing. It’s the world’s way of thinking.
35-37: Give to those who borrow from you. In other words,
don’t give loans to those in need, give money or goods. Expect
absolutely no repayment. You would not believe the amount of
relationships that are destroyed by people who lend to friends and family.
Dave Ramsey talks about this extensively in his Total Money Makeover.
The promise related to this is that God will honor actions that are
patterned after His plan of grace. Pattern your life after God giving
grace, forgiveness and honor to those who do not deserve it. Pardon
those who have wronged you just like God pardons us for the sin that we
commit against Him.
38: Finally, the money verse…or is it? In the context of
the passage very little is focused on money. Most of it is giving
love, good will, and possessions to those who don’t deserve it.
Nothing is discussed in the passage about giving money to the church!
In our giving, if we give of our wealth to others, God will return it
“pressed down, shaken together, and running over”. If we give food to
others, food will be returned in the same manner. What happens if we
give mercy to others? What happens if we give forgiveness to others?
What happens if we give condemnation to others? When we respond to
others either positively or negatively, we are giving to them. This
passage is not about giving money to the church at all…
The point of all this is simple. If we will just read the Bible,
look at what it says and understand it in context, we will not be taken
captive by someone who wants to pull a verse out of context. The main
focus of our study today was taken from looking strictly at the context of
the passage. We did not cross reference, check the commentaries, or
look at the original languages. We simply read the scripture and
followed the progress of Jesus’ thought. We have great Bible tools
available to us today that help us to compare scriptures, dig into the
original languages and check out what others have said through the
commentaries. The early church did not have this luxury. They
had scrolls, a few parchments, Old Testament parchments and the word of
those who studied these documents. Two thousand years later, we have
forgotten the simple task of reading the source material, which is the
Bible. Instead we listen to others who are more educated than we are.
We listen to the pastor who has “spent his week with his nose in the book”.
We falsely assume that these studied people are right in their findings.
In other words, we are following like blind men who follow other blind men.
Read Matthew 15:14: In many ways Christianity today has become
similar to the Pharisees who blindly lead blind people. We choose to
be blind when we do not study the scriptures.
Context can be found by reading during our quiet times. It can
be found by refusing to read the scriptures off of the overhead projector in
churches and reading it from the Bible. When you do this; look at the
passages before and after the verse being read. Look to see what the verse
means in context. During our quiet times we have a time that is quiet
enough to read the scriptures and time enough to read carefully so that
others do not baffle us with misquoted scriptures.
During the quiet time read the scripture and try to put all other
distractions out of your mind. If you are reading a passage and
realize that you are thinking about something else, stop and go back.
Read it again, concentrating this time. We often forget that we are
engaged in a spiritual battle, even during our quiet times. Satan will
distract us from our task any way possible. This is a time to pray to
God, out loud if you are able, to free you from distractions and open your
mind to the Word. Prayer isn’t restricted to the beginning of the
quiet time only. Pray again if you need too. What is important
in this type of study is context. Read the Bible to understand what is
written. Write down anything that God impresses on your mind.
Write a short summary of the passage if you find it helpful.
By the way, in times past if something is on my mind and will not give
up, I will often write down the problem to address it later. This
frees my mind from mulling over the thought while I am trying to read.
I also do this if I wake up in the middle of the night with a thought that
will not let me sleep. Sometimes when this happens, I will later find
the notes to be exactly what I was looking for.
The topic is open for discussion.
Joe.
