Friday: Further Study
We should reverence God’s word. For the printed volume we should show respect, never putting it to common uses, or handling it carelessly. And never should Scripture be quoted in a jest, or paraphrased to point a witty saying. Every word of God is pure; as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Proverbs 30:5; Psalm 12:6.
— Ellen G. White, Education, p. 244.
Christ’s first words to the people on the mount were words of blessing.
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
Happy are they, He said, who recognize their spiritual poverty, and feel their need of redemption. The gospel is to be preached to the poor. Not to the spiritually proud, those who claim to be rich and in need of nothing, is it revealed, but to those who are humble and contrite. . . . The Lord can do nothing toward the recovery of man until, convinced of his own weakness, and stripped of all self-sufficiency, he yields himself to the control of God. Then he can receive the gift that God is waiting to bestow. From the soul that feels his need, nothing is withheld. He has unrestricted access to Him in whom all fullness dwells.
— Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 299, 300.
Discussion Questions:
- Dwell on the plan of salvation and what was required to save us. That is, we are so fallen, so corrupt, so evil, that mere regeneration would not be enough to redeem us from sin. No matter how much we are changed and restored, that regeneration and restoration cannot save us. We needed a substitute, someone who legally stands in our place and whose righteousness alone is enough to make us right with God. What should this reality itself tell us about why arrogance and pride have to be some of the worst sins in fallen beings like us?
- What are some of the different ways that our very existence depends upon God? What are the things in nature itself that show us how God sustains our existence?
- Dwell more on the prayer in Proverbs 30:7–9. Look at the balance there. How do we find balance in all that we do? Why is this so important?
(9)
To think that we may have "unrestricted access" to the King of the universe. What a privelege!
People who read their Bibles everyday will have Bibles that show they"vr bee used. BUT, if they are handled with reverence & respect each time they are read or studied, they will not be torn or falling apart. Some are proud to have Bibles which are torn & "dog-eared" buy that shows they have been handled roughly. Not necessary & not right.
Unfortunately most Bibles are made of materials that deteriorate over time. I have a leather bound Bible that is 60 years old and even the leather is starting to wear. Some of my other more recent Bibles are less well built and they tend to fall apart at the binding after only a few years, even when they are cared for. Now-a-days I use the Bibles on my iPad. iPads tend to "wear out" technologically rather quickly. (I won't tell you how many iPads I've warn out!)
The real measure of a Bible's use is the effect it has on the reader. Paper and technology will grow old and wear out, but the Word of God should always refresh the reader.
To me it is not how many times a person opens the Bible but why he/she opens it. There are some people that have well worn Bibles but they use them for purposes other than what it was produced for. For instance, most archeologists carry a Bible with them for historical and archeological purposes because its accuracy is well known when finding ancient cities and dating inscriptions but they don't care about the spiritual things in it and pass that by.
Other people study prophesy in order to discover future events but that is not the same as studying the one who made the prophesies. So, to me purpose is the most important thing and if the only reason I go into the Bible is to argue and prove what I believe then I think I most likely have missed the author behind the writing.
Even though I understand what Maurice is saying I also can see the point that Marlowe is making. There are people that have so little respect for anything that they will end up destroying just about everything they come in contact with through abuse. A very good example is what people have done to very ancient writings in an Alberta, Canada Provincial Park named "Writing on Stone." The writing is almost completely obscured by people who thought what they write is more important than anything else.
There also are those that basically live in a garbage can and feel more at home living with junk then with anything nice and the rattier things are the happier they seem to be. Such is not lifting God up as Lord but holding what He has produced on the same level as the common things of this world.
I think we need to be realistic about the whole thing; ordinary wear and tear is a very real part of our lives and I don't think we should get overly paranoid over the issue but we should treat the Bible as something more than just another book.
We must have reverence for the Bible because of the WORDS it contains. Not treat it as an Idol.
EGW said that the Israelites treated the Ark of Testament like an idol thinking that it had power. Where i come from i have seen mothers putting an open bible beside their babies when she has to leave them by them-self to attend to something as if the bible was going to protect the child.
I read a book saying that a man saw his wife taking her bible everywhere but hardly reads it. She thought that having her bible with her gives her some kind of comfort.
That is something like the old covenant (putting the law in the ark) but the new covenant states that Jesus wants to "...put His Law in our minds and write them on the tables of our hearts." I long for that- "...not with ink but by the Spirit."
Jesus on earth never went around caring a scroll. But He never sinned, why? "Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee." Psalms 119:11
Amen...
Arrogance and selfrighteousness won't do. Humility, humility without sacrifice of selfworth, depend on God, salvation through Christ, dwell on Christ.