Why a Constant Bible Study

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Hebrews 10:25
But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Hebrews 3:13
There is a couple of reasons why I am thinking about this subject. A Sunday School teacher asked why do we have continuous Bible Studies, week after week?  Pastor spoke about growing in a recent sermon. I see these things as related. I became a Christian over 30 years ago. Actually as a child I was raised in Church, Sunday School, Gleaners, VLB's. Gleaners was the program for pre-teen children. VLB stood for Victory Leaders Band for teenagers. I believe I became a Christian at possibly age 5. But in my twenties I walked away from God. Didn't feel I needed him, saw so many hypocrites in the church. As I thought about these things, when I became a Christian did I in that moment become mature and know the whole Bible from cover to cover? I understand today, I didn't know a lot back then. I remember a Pastor in my early twenties asking what I thought my Bible knowledge was on a scale from 1 to 10.  I said probably a five. He said,  just the fact that I was raised in the church I was probably an 8.  I know he meant to encourage me. But I also think it was still some of that we are the Church of God mentality.  Many years I went to Sunday School, Church etc. But did I grow? I really didn't set aside time for personal relationship with God. It was a hit and miss thing with me. I look back and I think was I suppose to know all there was to know about being a Christian just because I became one? So I decide to become an auto mechanic and I buy a set of tools and a car and I just automatically know what to do?  I knew almost nothing about auto mechanics when I was 19 years old.  But during my years at Scott Paper Company I took a correspondence course through the mail and they gave me tools. I knew I needed to repack wheel bearings in an old 1953 panel truck I had, but as simple as that was I did not know how to do it.  I took my wheel bearings to a service station and asked if the mechanic there could repack them for me. He looked at me funny and did repack them in front of me. He didn't use a tool. He took some axle grease in the palm of his hand and pressed the bearings one at a time  into the clump of new grease until the new grease pushed the old grease out. Around and around he rotated that bearing and pushed it into the grease in the palm of his hand. It was simple but I didn't know how to do it. After the correspondence course I did brake jobs, oil changes,  I even rebuilt an engine in a 1954 ford. I took it all apart and honed out the cylinders, put new rings and bearings in it and put it back together. It ran after I got done and I drove it for a few years until I traded for something else. I rebuilt a 3 speed manual transmission. I installed a short block in a falcon I had. Just becoming a Christian does not mean I knew how to be one. That is why we gather together in Sunday School and Church Sunday morning, even Wednesday Bible Study. To learn how to be a Christian.  But is it just head knowledge that I needed? It probably did about as much good as the auto mechanic correspondence course if I didn't put it into practice. The Bible knowledge needs to be more than just head knowledge. It needs to get into my heart and my life.  These principles need to be put into practice in my life. Psalm 119 talks about learning God's commands, his ways, his precepts, his laws etc. We need more than head knowledge, it needs to be something we practice, something we live. I am still learning. I can see back there where most Christians could rightfully be called a hypocrite as they learn about being a Christian. I didn't rebuild an engine after the first lesson. After a few lessons I may have done a tune up, a few more and I might have done a brake job. But it was a long time in that course until I rebuilt and engine.  It would have done absolutely nothing for me until I put it into practice. I read about forgiving others, guarding my tongue. What good does my learning do if I don't practice in my daily life? We Christians want to be like Jesus, but how do I know what Jesus is like if I don't pray and read his word. How do I grow if I don't put those things into practice that I learned. I became a Christian in an instant, I am learning how to live like one over a life time. In that sermon Pastor made the statement, healthy things grow. Am I growing as a Christian or do I look the same as I did 20 or 30 years ago? God bless, LVZ.




healthy things grow