Why Study the Bible?By Lance Mosher
The Bible says, “the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9). I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be counted as unrighteous in the sight of God. The Bible also claims, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16, emphasis added). Therefore, if we want to be considered righteous by God and inherit the kingdom of God, we must use God’s inspired book to instruct us.
YOUR SOUL IS PRECIOUS I know you’ve heard it before, but it must be said again. Your soul is so precious that God sent His Son to die in order for you to spend eternity with Him (John 3:16). Have you contemplated the salvation of your soul lately? It is so easy in our time to live day by day without stopping and contemplating about eternity. Eternity is a long time. Truthfully, to relate eternity with time defeats the purpose. Eternity is outside of time. It has no end. Now think about this: the life-force inside your body is eternal. Your body, which is not the true you, will die one day. But the true you will live for eternity. The question is where? Where will you spend eternity? MY GOOD OUTWEIGHS MY BAD The Bible promises, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). Many people go about life hoping that if they do more good things than bad things in life, then God will let them into heaven. That’s not how it works. Jesus Christ will judge everyone one day, and He promises to use His word as His standard (John 12:48)! A single sin banished Adam and Eve from the Garden (Gen. 3). Since God shows no partiality (Rom. 2:11), He will not make an exception for you and me (Rom. 6:23). We must depend on His grace. The only way we can know that we have eternal life is by comparing our lives to what has been written (1 John 5:13). So, yes, Jesus will weigh out some things on the day of judgment. He will not put your good works on one side and your bad works on the other. He will, instead, put your entire life on one side and His word on the other side. Does your life measure up? Have you studied and obeyed the Scriptures (Heb. 5:8-9)? CONCLUSION Why study the Scriptures? They are the source of eternal life (Jas. 1:21). They teach us how to please God (2 Tim. 3:16). They teach us how to do good works (2 Tim. 3:17). They produce faith in our lives, which produces eternal life (John 20:30-31). They will be the standard for the eternal judgment of our souls (John 12:48). The list could go on and on. Take the time today to look at what God has written for us. Except where noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation
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