25 October 2013

Belief versus Following – A Bible

Greetings Dear Reader,

Within eyesight or where I sit typing this I can count sixteen Bibles.  Those are just the hardcover ones.  In my E-Sword electronic Bible software I have 36 English translations, 7 Greek and Hebrew, and access to almost every written language on the planet.  I have shelves full of commentary and background on the Bible as well as thousands of electronic volumes of the same. (I highly recommend E-Sword by the way.  It is free and quite manageable.)

All of those valued resources mean nothing if I do not use them.  Using all of them means even less if I do not change because of it.  There used to be a time where I read my Bible through once a month.  I did this for almost three years.  During some of that time I also was neglecting what it teaches in several areas of my life.  

I still read the Bible every day but I strive for quality over quantity.  I ponder what I read in light of what it is saying to me about following Christ.  If I do not discipline (same word as discipleship) my life to look into these words and find what I am to become by doing then I should neglect it altogether.  It is never enough to read the Bible or even believe it.

If I do not live the lessons found in that reading and it the commentary surrounding it then I am not following.  It does not matter if I believe it if I do not do it.  I am to be disciplined by the teaching of the Bible.  It is not my weapon to judge others.  It is not my tool to manipulate or pressure others.  It is a living thing that divides my natures so that I may feed the one that follows Christ. 

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."

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