A new year brings an opportunity to start new habits. Many Christians will determine to live for the Lord this year, be more involved in the church, and spend more time reading Bible. Because Scripture is so important to both faith and faithfulness, the following is a list of four reasons to read the Bible, and four things to do when you read the Bible.
2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV)
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
4 Reasons To Read the Bible This Year:
- Scripture is the basis for our belief and our actions.
Paul writes and says that Scripture is “profitable for teaching.” Scripture is what Christians believe, and it is the source of what is taught in the church. In Titus 1:9 it says the church is to be instructed in sound doctrine. Sound doctrine is the truths of Scripture that are taught to the people of God. Paul tells Timothy to do this by reading, explaining and exhorting and correcting each other using the Scriptures (1 Timothy 4:13).
The Bible should be the basis for every way that you teach your children to live
The Bible should be the foundation for every justification you make about how you live
The Bible should be the source for how you as a Christian live in your relationships with God, with others, and towards the world.
- Scripture is how God speaks to the sin in your life.
Paul also says that Scripture is profitable “for reproof.” This word could also be translated as the word rebuke. “Scripture can show sinners their failures, clarify the point of the mistake, and lead them to a new sense of peace and wholeness” (New American Commentary) The act of personally reading the Bible is the act of submitting yourself to the leadership of God through His Word and the Holy Spirit.
- Scripture is how God reveals what is right to us.
Scripture is profitable “for correction.” After being rebuked, or in the face of temptation, Scripture restores our minds, hearts, and lives to the truth. Reading the Bible is how God leads us personally to live rightly before Him.
- Scripture is how God matures His church.
Scripture is profitable “for training in righteousness.” Paul means that the Bible is essential for moral training that leads to righteous living. The word training here represents and speaks to the entire life of a person, like parents raising their children. Righteousness is living according to what God says is right. Reading and knowing Scripture is how God leads us to both know and do what is right in His eyes.
With these four reasons fresh in your mind, click here to read Part Two: Four Things To Do When Reading The Bible