Digging Deeper into God's Word

There's nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.

2 Timothy 3:15-17 (The Message)

Something that has been on my heart and mind lately is the fact that Christians (or Christ Followers) do not know the Word of God like they should including yours truly. I love how The Message puts these verses in 2 Timothy. Let's remember that God's Word has so many great stories, wisdom, and truth that we can only get by opening God's Word.

Sure there are plenty of mega churches reaching the lost and growing in numbers. My question is this, "Are they growing disciples or just a building with bodies to fill it up each Sunday?" People don't know simple stories anymore like David and Goliath, Jonah and the Whale, and even the story of the creation. Wow it saddens me to think what my kids generation is going to be like. What are we doing to help those baby Christians grow? I'm tired of simply having "emotional evangelism" within our churches. I'm tired of the shows and ready to go deeper into the hearts of those who claim to follow Christ.

Maybe I am just in a different place spiritually than others, but I love reading God's Word. I love going back to the Old Testament stories and rereading those great adventures I learned when I was a kid. I have a passion to get these stories into the hearts and minds of those people who are wanting to learn more about God's Word.

Of course there are awesome books and Bible studies to effectively help you live your life, but what I'm talking about here is Digging Deeper into God's Word. Not just getting a feel good piece of Scripture to make your weekly dose of Biblical Medicine. I'm talking about learning about who God is, what He has done to teach us new things, how Jesus's ministry effected lives. WE can only find out more about God in His Word.

Ecclesisastes says that there is "nothing new under the sun." God placed the Scriptures in our lives to help us learn from other people in the past. We should learn to have wisdom like Solomon, passion for the lost like Paul, leadership like Moses, and a servant's heart like Mary.

This set of Scriptures in 2 Timothy makes my point. God's Word is available to us to help us learn from our mistakes, exposing our attitudes and hearts, and to help us live out our daily lives. We should strive to read through each book if we can. Start with something simple like the book of John. There are some amazing stories about Jesus and his ministry on earth. You'll be amazed at all the things you can learn just from reading this one book.

So that is my little rant for the day. I may begin teaching a Bible study class and I want to call it Digging Deeper. It may just have to start with the youth in our church, but who better else to begin teaching how to study God's Word than our future generation.

My challenge to you is to go and read God's Word. What a great way to start off a new year. Pick up a New International Version or New American Standard Version of the Bible. They are a little easier to read and understand. If you need help understanding it, get a good study Bible. I use the Life Application study Bible and it is amazing. There are also good commentaries available at your local Christian bookstore. One of my favorite commentaries are the J. Vernon McGee series. He has some great insight into the Word of God. But overall, before you read each day, ask God to help you understand the Scriptures. I'm sure He won't let you down.

Happy Studying everyone!