Each person is motivated in different ways to spend time reading the Bible. It might be part of a program at church to read the entire Bible or a detailed study of a particular book in the Bible. It might be a period of sorrow that he or she is going through, and they are looking for answers or support. It might be a non-believer trying to prove a point that God is not real. Whatever the reason, time spent reading the Bible is always a good thing.
Some people will say “I have read the Bible from start to finish and I know it well!” That is great and I applaud you for your dedication. What I have discovered, is that every time I read parts of the Bible, I will discover something new I had not seen before. How is that possible when it is the same copy of the Bible? There is knowledge and then there is wisdom. You gain knowledge of information by reading or in other ways where you are exposed to facts. You can only gain wisdom when God opens you to more understanding than you were ready to grasp earlier.
God tells us that His people will experience a time when they replace “common sense,” the things they know to be true, with crazy ideas that would have been laughed at just a brief time before. God tells us that is the result of the slippery slope, traveling the wide path of the world and moving further away from God’s values. This new freedom that society provides “to do what you please” will bring with it great pain and harm to many. Nobody will get through it unaffected. So how do we react to those who have been seduced by all this freedom “to be me”?
First, we pray for them. Then we find a way to encourage them to read certain parts of the Bible, not to prove them wrong – they will reject that as proof that you are wrong about everything. Perhaps, ask them to read it and explain what it means, to help you understand. Listening to them is way more important than trying to show them how wrong they are. What I have just suggested is hard to do when the proof is so clear to you. You cannot help them when the door is slammed in your face.
So where is a good place for a person to start reading the Bible? Some people say to start with Genesis and read through Revelation to get the whole picture. I spend time searching certain topics or issues that the Bible speaks about to get scriptures that provide God’s answers. However, the Book of John is a good place for a person to begin reading the Bible. The twenty-one chapters are short and easy to read while providing a personal look at Jesus and His message. The purpose is to get them to read and think about what they read, not to prove you have greater knowledge. Some people will tell you that they have read the whole Bible and it is simply wrong. Just ask them to read the Book of John and identify what parts are wrong. Let them show you.
C.S. Lewis set out to prove God did not exist and that effort changed his life forever.
C.S. Lewis – I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
