Outcomes from studying the bible.

Why I study the bible…? Well many people just don’t know why they ought to study the the bible… they often take the bible as some form of “rules for daily living” and that’s about it they get from it… some read it just because they were told it was the right thing to do. Here are some thoughts on why I study the bible and what outcomes I recieve from it… maybe it will be helpful to you also…

A.  so that we might love…

If we read the bible and we don’t conclude that we ought to love others… then there’s 2 possibilities: Either we’re not reading the bible, or we  only take what suites us from it and leave love out. Love in the bible is blatant, we can’t possibly miss it. In the beginning God made man and lived with him in a perfect place and they were in perfect relationship… man sinned and thus broke the perfect relationship and were cast out of the perfect place… This all took place in Genesis 1 and 2. By Genesis 3:15, God was already laying out his plan to restore man to Himself. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” God points to the cross from Genesis 3 already, just after the fall, speaking about how Jesus will crush the the head of the serpent. the rest of the old testament is God putting his plan into action… Why though? because God so loved us, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. 1 John, goes on to say if we say we know God, yet hate our brother, we are liars. We do not know God. So if we know God, we love God, and we love others. If there was one word that would describe the whole bible, it would be Love. Jesus said it Himself, when he was asked which law is the greatest…He replied “Love God with all your might and all your soul and with all your strength and love your brother as yourself.” This command covers the whole law of the prophets.

B. so that our desires would change.

The bible challenges us strongly in the area of our desires. Why? Our desires ultimately show what’s in our hearts, and determine to what or whom we give glory. it’s a heart thing… what we desire is what gives us joy and makes us happy… ultimately we glorify the things that we find joy in. The bible says we ought to Glorify God and that we ought to esteem him as our treasure… the bible iterates that we ought to desire God not just seek Him just because others are doing it, or because it’s a “good” thing to do.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” Matt 13:44

C. so that we might live an abundant life.

I love the bible because it helps me to live the life I was meant to live. Not a life spent coveting health, wealth and prosperity, but a life spent striving to be like Jesus Christ, who is Life itself. Not that I want bad health or to be broke and to have no prosperity, but a life complete despite bad health, a life complete despite poverty and a life complete despite lack in some areas. THAT is the Abundant life of Jesus and that’s what I desire. The bible helps me in that regard.

D. so that we might do what it says to us.

The bible is of absolutely know use to our interllect, so long as it remains in our interllect. Infact it could even be idolatrous… the study of God’s Word, debating and speaking about God’s Word etc. can all become idols, so long as the study of God’s word remains an intellectual practise or exercise, rather than it, impacting our lives and relationships and the way we handle our possessions and respond to specific situations. We ought to hear and do God’s word.

“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” James 2:14-17

There is many more, but this is just me.

In love

 

Life not lived – Daniela Siko

She wants me to say nothing about her, but I’m gonna….lol she’s one of the best student poets i’ve heard yet… she’s my friend and I thought she deserved a spot on my blog! here goes…

Freedom,

human form is what these fingers of mine appreciate

Liberty from within not even I can substantiate on it

humble and mum

Yet these words penetrate through me like ultra-rays

By learning not to be judgemental

the true equity is revealed

Living, is a word inferior to me

For life lived was for others

Yet they immigrated and emmigrated

Leaving tracks behind…

Xenophobia attacks

“I have never been embarrased to be South African, ever, in my entire life… I am ashamed to be South African today…”

The venue was in church, 25th May… the church was fuller than normal this evening, (that’s because the church where I’m at is housing a few of the refugees caused by xenophobia in our city, Cape Town) and I’m sitting in my prefered corner in the back pews, when my pastor uttered these words (above) with disgrace written all over his face, and it hit me… I felt exactly the same way…! the xenephobic attacks experienced in this country right now are not merely the foreigner’s problem… It is my problem aswell, as a South African and as a christian. What is strange is that, during the aphartheid era, south africans fought against exactly the same kind of oppression, we cried and experienced great pain as a nation…but now, knowing exactly how it felt, we are turning around doing the exactly the same thing to our african brothers and sisters…What evil and what wickedness has overcome our nation. A pregnant foreign woman (I don’t know her nationality), was reported to having been beaten up and murdered, and her baby cut out from her stomach in Johannesburg. “Oh God, what evil has overcome our nation?”