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The Bible is its
own best teacher. The Bible however is not arranged like an
encyclopedia. You cannot go to chapter 1 and read everything
about God and go to chapter 2 to read everything about Jesus,
etc. Remember when reading the Bible the verses and chapter
breaks are placed in the scriptures by man. It is better to read
by paragraph, these too are man-made but they do conform better
to the original language than verses. Some ground rules need to
be set up first:
Pray first before opening God's word. Ask for guidance and to be
able to accept what is written and to be able to apply His will
to your life. Never, never read the Bible trying to proof your
belief on any subject. It is only human nature to take ideas out
of context.
When you are
reading and come across something that does not make sense,
reread the paragraph or chapter again. If you still do not
understand, write down the problem area and continue onward. You
may discover the answers later in your reading.
Do not read
large amounts of the Bible in one setting. Take breaks often. Or
stay with about 4-6 chapters a day. Start with the New
Testament, people who start with the Old Testament almost never
read the Bible all the way through. The New Testament is what is
binding on us today not the Old. We need to follow God's will
for us today not what was intended for the Jews.
Forget everything you have ever heard about Jesus, God and the
Bible before you start reading the Bible. Don't take what you
want it to say with you first. Now with those in mind, let's lay
out the way to read the Bible to let it build on itself:
- Read "Mark." (It is written in chronological order.)
- Read "Matthew." (It goes into better detail of some events and
adds more about Jesus.)
Read "John." (It contains a lot of the life of Jesus not before
read, especially his last two weeks before the crucifixion.)
- Read "Luke" then "Acts." (Both written by Apostle Paul's
traveling companion Luke. Acts is a continuation of Luke. It
describes the early church and contains the examples of New
Testament conversions.)
- Read "Galations." (It deals with the reasons why we do not
follow the Old Testament Laws in a more simplified way than does
Romans or Hebrews.)
- Then read the rest of the New Testament starting at Romans and
going to Revelation. 6. Your voyage through God's Word will take
about 5 weeks.
It will be the
best traveling you can ever take. You will laugh and you will
cry. It has everything that makes a very good book, and lots
more. It can teach you the most important things for this life
and the one to come.
** Courtesy: Butch Walker,
www.christianlibrary.org |
