Why and How Should I Read the Bible?

Fact: The Bible is the world's #1 bestseller. Every single year.

In fact, this is such a fact, that it is recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Perhaps the Bible is the best-selling book year after year because it is so powerfully impactful in our lives. Or perhaps because of our human nature to search for that relationship with a higher being. Or perhaps because Isaiah said that "The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever" (Isaiah 40:8).

Whatever your opinion is, Jesus does tell us that "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). Food is not enough; money is not enough; fame is not enough. No matter how little or how much we have, our natural craving for deeper meaning and purpose is evidence of a God that wants a relationship with us.

Revelation and Relationship

The Bible is just that: a manual for a life in relationship with Christ. Do you agree with Nicky that we are wired to have a relationship with God? Have you noticed that reading the Bible often confirms what you have been thinking? Have you experienced your conscience telling you not to do something? God is working in your life to have a relationship with you.

Now let's take a step back. Take yourself back to an evening where you saw the sun set with a beautiful array of colours. A stunning show of a lightning and thunder battle. A peaceful morning of the sun's glimmer on the lake. An understanding of the complexity of our genetic makeup. A miracle of the birth of a baby. Creation, the Bible tells us, reveals to us that God exists. It is the Bible, however, that reveals who God is.

The Bible is inspired by God and written by various different men across hundreds of years. The Bible isn't necessarily a simple book all about positive emotions. There are difficult issues to tackle - take suffering and death, for example; in the discussion of our experiences with reading the Bible, we all could express times where we did not understand the meaning of what we read or we did not understand God's actions. Yet for many of us, we can also recall times that reading the Bible brought us peace. This is because the Bible is His story, a story of God's love for us.

So is the Bible still relevant today? In our round-table discussion, we noted that the Bible helps us to learn who God is; it provides guidelines for living; it keeps us close in a relationship with God; it provides advice for life issues that we face today: money, relationships, temptations, etc.

But depending on our life experiences, we may view the Bible as a book of rules rather than relationship. But I encourage you to remember who God is: LOVE. As we discussed last week, He is the father and like any good-loving father, there are rules set in place because He loves us and wants to protect us. Believing in God and obeying his rules does not limit your freedom. If anything, it makes you more free because you can trust in God every step of the way.

This Week's Alpha Challenge:

1. Set a time in the day to read the Bible.

And when you are reading:

• Pray to God to speak to your heart.
• Ask yourself how the verse/chapter you read applies to you specifically.

2. Throughout your day, ask yourself: "Is God trying to speak to me? Is He trying to tell me something? Am I willing to listen?"