The knowledge of God’s existence, character and moral law which comes through creation to all humanity is often called general revelation. Yesterday we said the Bible is not needed for any of those items. So is there anything the Bible is needed for?
Yes. God also has spoken specific words to specific people throughout history, and He wants to speak specifically into our life today. These words are called specific revelation and it’s these words that are included in the Bible. There are three very important and critical areas that one can only get from reading God’s Words in the Bible.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 gives a good summary of why the Bible is important for us to read:
16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
It’s important we read the Bible not because it’s expected of us, or we are obligated to, or it’s what a good Christian does. We should read the Bible expecting that God, our Creator and Father, will meet with us and speak directly to our hearts and minds. The most important discipline someone can establish in their walk with God is a daily, consistent time in His Word.
So how to start? Get a Bible, notebook/journal and pen, then:
Yesterday I shared some of the questions I've wrestled with in the past about why I should read the Bible. Many Christians don't read the Bible on a regular basis. Why is that? Maybe the Bible isn't really necessary, maybe we can learn about God without it?
Let’s acknowledge that there are a lot of things we can learn without the Bible. Here are three:So if we can understand all the above about God without the Bible, is there anything the Bible uniquely can speak to us about? We'll explore that question tomorrow.
This past week I've been thinking about the Bible. More specifically I've been thinking about how Christians are always told they should read the Bible but many don't on a regular basis. Why is that? Here are some common questions I would say most people, even Christians, have surrounding the Bible:
I've asked all these questions before, and have used them all as excuses for not opening the Bible. For a long time I only read the Bible because I was supposed to. People always told me to, it's what a good Christian is supposed to do. Obligation and guilt drove my Bible reading.
There are a lot of things we can learn about God without even opening a Bible. Tomorrow I'm going to explore some of these items. Perhaps we'll come to the conclusion that we can learn enough about God from other sources that the Bible is no longer necessary?
If you read the Bible, why do you do it? If not, why not?
Today is our one year referral-versary. This day last year was when we received the phone call from our adoption agency that would change our lives and set the trajectory of our family forever. We learned that we would be adopting two little girls named Irene and Jeannette. Thought I'd share a before and after picture of how each of them have changed over the last 365 days.
Maya
Keira
God has blessed us in more ways with these two little girls then we could ever have imagined. We are very fortunate.
I just started hearing this song about a month ago on Air1. An amazing song appropriate for Father's Day that talks about the important role we as father's have in our family. The story behind the song is in the second video. I encourage you to watch it as I think the struggle that led to this song is one many of us face.
As of May 10, 2010 the human population of the world is estimated to be 6.8 billion people according to the US Census Bureau. Can God really love 6.8 billion people? For a long time I thought that seemed unreasonable and a ridiculous idea.
Three years ago this month was when we brought our first adopted son Noah home from Ethiopia. We immediately fell in love with him and never thought twice about him looking different or not being our biological child. Last year as we prepared to bring our two girls home from Rwanda this question went through my mind "I love Noah so much, I'm not sure I'll be able to love these two girls in the same way?" It didn't seem feasible how I could love two other children with the same amount of love that I had for my first son.
Now that Maya and Keira are home, I can say I do. I love each of my children completely and individually. Going from 1 to 3 kids didn't divide my love, but it increased my capacity to love in a way that I couldn't have imagined. I'm crazy about each of my kids and fully love each of them.
If I can do this with three children, then I have no doubt God can do this with every person on the earth. Before having kids I never really understood, now I do.
God loves you.
Two weeks ago it happened... Courtney and I were standing in our garage talking to a friend from church and Noah disappeared. The kids were all playing in the garage around us while we were talking and we didn't notice that Noah snuck off. It was probably five minutes before we realized he was gone. At first we went out into the driveway looking for him and asking the neighbor kids if they saw him, he was no where to be found. We then got more worried and a frantic search began. All the worst case scenarios start going through your mind... what if he is hurt, what if someone took him, what if he is lost and wondering in the middle of some busy street. You immediately start thinking through all the scenarios of him getting hurt or worse and how bad of parents we are. Our frantic search lasted about 10 minutes until a neighbor from the next street over came carrying him down the street. It was the most scary event so far of my life as a parent.
Later I was reflecting on how it happened. Then I thought about the stories Jesus told in Luke 15 to demonstrate how God the Father searches for us as His children. He talks about a shepherd that leaves 99 sheep to go find the one that is lost and a woman who looses a coin and searches her entire house, turning it upside down to find the lost coin. I now understand these stories and the point Jesus was trying to make in a way that I never have before. I realized that as desperately as I was searching for Noah, God my Father pursued me in even a greater way before I knew Him. The great thing about God is that He never stops pursuing you and me. If you're far from God right now, God is searching for you in the same way. Will you turn to Him and be found?
Mother's Day is coming up and it's got me thinking about the privilege Courtney and I have to be parents to three amazing children. Also, parenting has caused me to learn more about God than almost any other experience in my life. Thought I'd share a few of the lessons I've learned this week.
With children ages 1, 2 and 3 we have been in potty training mode for about the last 3 months and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Currently our middle child Maya is having the most success so here are four parallels God has shown me about potty training Maya and my relationship with Him:
Who in your life that doesn't know God do your pray for regularly? Are there people that seem far from God or seem so opposed to Jesus that you're certain they'll never have a relationship with Christ? It can be tempting to give up on these people after months and even years of praying for them, loosing any faith or hope you have that they would one day know Christ.
Today I want to encourage you to keep hoping and believing in faith. All it takes is a single word or encounter with Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God to change a person's life forever.
I read today about Saul. If there was anyone in the Bible that seemed so opposed to the early church, such an enemy of the followers of Christ, such a lost cause then it was Saul. We are first introduced to him Acts 8:1 where he is watching and approving the stoning and death of a man named Stephen. Then a few sentences later it says Saul began to destroy the church. To remind us that this wasn't just a short lived hobby of his, in Acts 9:1 it tells us that Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. If there was ever a person that one would loose hope for ever knowing Christ, then Saul was that person.
As Acts 9 continues though we see a beautiful sequence of events. Saul has a powerful encounter with Jesus Christ and his life is changed forever. In Acts 9:19 we see him being baptized, and then in verse 20 it says that at once he began to preach that Jesus is the Son of God.
Saul goes from an enemy of the church, to it's strongest supporter. From persecutor to proclaimer of the resurrected Jesus Christ. From murder to a man who one day will be a martyr for his faith.
If it's possible for Saul to have his life radically changed and to become a follower of Christ, then it's also possible for the person you're praying for. Don't give up. Keep hoping, believing and standing in faith. All it takes is one encounter with Christ... maybe today will be the day!