Why Should We Study the Bible?
As a believer you may ask yourself, “Why do I need to study the Bible?” After all, you have never been trained as a Bible scholar, and besides, the pastor will teach you what you need to know. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. If you are serious about growing in your faith, you need to know what God’s word says, and you need to learn to apply it to your life.
Studies about how we learn have shown that one of the least effective ways of learning anything is by hearing alone. While the human mind is a wonderful thing, it becomes easily distracted. Think about your own Sunday morning experiences. You are listening to the sermon, when you realize that your mind has drifted off to thinking about what you will be having for lunch, or looking at the baby that just cooed in the row in front of you. Before you know it you have missed several minutes of the pastor’s message. Once the service is over, you will have forgotten over half of the details within an hour.
In order to more effectively learn, you need to be actively engaged in the process. One great way to do that is to read and study the Bible yourself. By being more actively engaged, you will retain a great deal more of the information, and you will be able to draw on it more readily.
When we really study the Bible, we start to push out worldly thoughts and replace them with thoughts of Godly things. Our thoughts begin to become less self-centered and become more Christ-centered. As our thoughts begin to change, the way we live our day to day lives begin to be transformed. We begin to live lives that reflect and honor Christ.
The Bible also reminds us that we are sinners, and that we need to go to Christ daily to repent of our sins. God has provided us with a clear path to salvation through Jesus Christ. That path is clearly revealed in the Bible. By knowing and fully understanding that, we are better able to fulfill the Great Commission, and help lead others to Christ, and to accept the gift of eternal life that was given on Calvary.
So, why should I study the Bible? We do it because God commands us to. His word has revealed that we can spend an eternity with him through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ. By accepting Jesus as Lord our Lord and Savior we can be forgiven of our sins. By reading and understanding the Bible, we can have greater knowledge and wisdom, and will be better prepared to serve Him, and to lead others to Christ.
Visit http://www.whystudythebible.com/ to read more more reasons why we study the Scriptures.
