You and the Bible

One of the things I encourage the people at Trego Community Church to do is read their Bibles.  Mainly because it is our only source of information about the God who is.  It is also one of the commandments we’re given by God.  One verse a lot of people are familiar with is 2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (NKJV).  But God also issued the same command in the O.T.  It was worded a little differently but was the same basic idea.  Check out Deuteronomy 6:6-9 and Joshua 1:8. There are others as well but you get the idea.  I recommend the practice of reading at least 4 chapters a day.  I picked 4 chapters because that doesn’t take a lot of time and it will get you through the entire Bible in less than a year.  Something else to consider.
 
Jesus Christ said the following in John 15:14: You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.  What an amazing thing, Jesus Christ said His friends obey His commandments.  So, does that mean you’re not His friend if you don’t keep His commandments?  Notice, He said Friend which means this doesn’t contradict His promise in John 3:16.  Everlasting life is a gift given to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ for life.  So, you can have everlasting life and know you will be in Heaven when you die and not be a friend of the Lord.  Not everyone with everlasting life knows this because they don’t read their Bible.  They depend on their Pastor to tell them what they need to know.   But if He doesn’t tell them or they miss that Sunday, well I guess they will just miss out. 
 
We are called to live by faith, Romans 1:17 For in it (the Gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”  But you can’t believe what you do not know.  As Paul wrote in Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  Living by faith requires knowledge of God’s word.  And His word contains a lot of important pointers on living by faith.  Promises that help us navigate life on this planet.  Which you may already have realized is not very user friendly. 
 
I can’t imagine what it would be like to only learn about this after you get to Heaven.  To have missed the good things God had for you now if only you had known those promises.  To learn for the first time that you could have been laying up treasures for your use in the eternal kingdom after it is too late to do so.  There is no guarantee you’ll keep His commandments if you do know them.  But, you have a better chance to do so if you know what they are!