Reading the Bible To Build The Relationship
“The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
This whole scene is super exciting, but doesn’t Jesus’ reaction catch you off guard? “How foolish you are” is what He says about their sorrow and anxiety. Apparently, Jesus thought it was so obvious from His teaching and the Old Testament that this was exactly the way it was supposed to happen. Imagine a 3 hour walk with a guy that could pull all kinds of Old Testament teachings out and relate them all to the sorrowful events of Easter. Not only would He teach them all of these things, but He taught them as such an elementary level that His initial reaction was “Are you foolish and slow to believe?!”
When we read the Bible, something is happening that doesn’t happen with any other thing we read. We can be moved by a poem. We can be excited by an article or scared by a novel. When we read the Bible, the actual Spirit of God works in the words and in our minds to bring things together to build our relationship and faith in God. I always thought it was cheesy to call the Bible God’s love letter, but in terms of it building our relationship, it serves a similar purpose.
Knowing from the beginning that the purpose of the Bible is to increase our faith and relationship with God, how differently would we read it than any other thing? Reading my friends’ Facebook posts might increase my relationship with them. Reading a letter I got in the mail will increase my relationship with an old friend.
Reading the Bible when I know God is watching and grinning and hoping for me to know Him better is orders of magnitude greater.
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