Written To Teach And Encourage

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Romans 15:4

In her book “Amazing Grace” Kathleen Norris writes: “Many people these days feel an absence in their lives, expressed as an acute desire for “something more,” a spiritual home, a community of faith. But when they try to read the Bible they end up throwing it across the room.

To me, this seems encouraging, a good place to start, a sign of real engagement with the God who is revealed in Scripture.

Others find it easy to dismiss the Bible out of hand, as negative, vengeful, violent.
I can only hope that they are rejecting the violence-as-entertainment of movies and television on the same grounds, and that they say a prayer every time they pick up a daily newspaper or turn on CNN.

In the context of real life, the Bible seems refreshingly whole, an honest reflection on humanity in relation to the sacred and the profane. I can’t learn enough about it, but I also have to trust what little I know, and proceed, in faith, to seek God there.”

The Bible is God’s great gift to us to teach and encourage. But we need to apply God’s Word to our lives!

“The Bible applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit, is the chief means by which men are built up and established in the faith, after their conversion.” – J.C. Ryle

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” – 2 Timothy 3:16