Bible Reading Life

As a Christian, we have to read the Bible thoroughly because the Bible can guide us to familiarize ourselves with God, in understanding the faith, and it is also our spiritual nourishment. II Timothy (3:16-17) states that “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”

We can choose to read the Bible in any way that suits us but reading our favourite books alone is not enough and we should not stray between books arbitrarily. Some Christians like to read books from the Old Testaments and New Testament alternately and some like to spend time reading one book in depth. Some like to follow the curriculum of a devotional series. Regardless of how you read the Bible, you must read it everyday.

Three steps of reading the Bible :

1. Prayer

Pray before reading the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to activate our thoughts and inspire us with the truth of the Bible.

2. Reflection

When we read the Bible, we can use tool books to help us, for example, bible study guides, handbooks, and maps. These tools can provide a lot of background information on the scripture for us to use as reference. However, we must remember that these are just support tools. Our responsibility is to read the Bible, repeatedly and continuously. Two reflection questions can always help us read the Bible:

(1) What does the passage mean? (i.e. The original intent of the scripture)

(2) What are they trying to express? (i.e. How to apply the teachings of the scripture in daily life)

3. Bear in mind

(1) We can try to memorize the words of the Bible. You can use a notebook to take down all that you have learned or you can put down your notes on the pages in the Bible or in devotional materials. This can help you memorize the scripture.

(2) Memorizing passages (or quotes) and taking them down as notes for review can be inspiring.