Anyone can read the Bible
The biggest presumption that I see people make is to glorify people and their relationship with God. We hear it all the time, “Wow so holy,” and “OK, future pastor”.
I believe we glorify basic discipleship because of the assumption that understanding and obeying Scripture is a gift from God reserved for the holiest of people.
The truth is none are righteous, no one seeks God. It is God’s Spirit that enables us to pick up His Word and understand it.
In fact, Paul says that he did not come with eloquent words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, and then teaches that the same Spirit that is in the apostles is in all believers.
Who can understand the thoughts of a man, except the spirit that resides in him? Yet, we have all received the Spirit of God, that we may understand the thoughts of God that were once higher than our own.
Truth be told I struggled a lot, and still to this day, to consistently read the Bible. I settled on the idea that it’s all about a relationship with God, and less about knowledge.
The problem that I found was that I based my relationship with God on my limited understanding of who He was.
The more I understood God’s character, the more I could fathom the lengths to which He went in order to establish a relationship with me. The same can be said for you.
2 Corinthians 3 paints a profound picture of the glory of God that is now made accessible to us. The veil over the Old and New Testaments are lifted as soon as we turn to the Lord.
Rather than looking at Bible reading as a priority to show that you are a good Christian, you must see it as a privilege that you are able to read and understand it in the first place. We don’t have to read the Bible but we have been given the ability to read it.
I encourage you to not wait until you get to Bible College or for someone else to teach you, pick up His Word today because it’s His Spirit that teaches us. We certainly do not trust the faculties of human reasoning to discern spiritual truths but we trust in Christ and His Spirit alone.
