There is a difference between knowing about the Bible and knowing the Bible just as there is a difference in knowing about God and knowing God.
A young girl was giving her mother a very difficult time over an act of disobedience. In trying to correct her daughter, the mother reminded her of a recent assignment she had been given in Sunday School to learn the Ten Commandments. “Don’t you remember” the mother asked, “that one of the Ten Commandments is to honor your father and your mother?” The daughter quickly responded, “Oh Mom! You just have to learn it; you don’t have to do it.”
Unfortunately, too many people have the same attitude toward the Bible. You can read the Bible and even memorize verses of the Bible but unless you are willing to put what you read or memorize to daily use, you will never know the benefit of God’s Word and you will never experience the blessing that comes from being a doer of the Word.
It was never intended that the Bible be an ornament or a table decoration in your home. It was never intended that the Bible be like a scrapbook where you stuff poems or newspaper clippings or family pictures. The Word of God will never become a living word in your life until you take its message seriously and apply its truth to how you live.
The Bible is not a book to be worshipped but rather it is a road map to guide you in living the life that God approves. The Psalmist said, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (NIV Psalm 119:11) A Bible that is never opened and never read is virtually useless.
Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. (John 14:23) Learning Bible verses without obeying God may increase your knowledge or memory power but it will not win God’s approval. The only way to please Him and Honor Him is to take the message of the Bible into your heart and life and to live a life of obedience to Him by faith.
In His love,
Charles
