My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
John 17:15–17
In John 17, we have a record of Jesus’ prayer on the night before His crucifixion. And do you know what He prayed for? Knowing that He is about to leave them, Jesus prayed for His disciples and for those who would believe in Him through their testimony (that’s you). He asked God to protect us from the evil one and to sanctify us (or make us holy) so that we will live differently than the rest of the world does.
And what is it that Jesus asks the Father to use to make us holy? What is supposed to be the means of your sanctification? It’s God’s Word!
When you read the Bible it changes you. It sanctifies you. Reading God’s Word has a purifying effect on your life; it increases your holiness.
Robert Saucy in his helpful book titled Scripture says this,
“The testimony of an old Scottish Christian finds an echo in every believer’s heart: ‘I have a most depraved and sinful nature, and do what I will, I find I cannot make myself holy. My friends cannot do it for me, nor do I think an angel in heaven could. One thing alone does it -- reading and believing what I read in that blessed Book; that does it.’”*
God’s Word is sanctifying!
Peter was one of the 12 disciples that were with Jesus on the night He prayed this prayer, and he must have understood that Scripture sanctifies us, because he urges believers in 1 Peter 2:2 to “crave pure spiritual milk like newborn babies, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.” What could this pure spiritual milk be but God’s Word?
Think about that metaphor for a moment. When a baby drinks milk, it nourishes him and causes him to grow. That’s what reading the Bible is like. It’s your spiritual food. Reading it nourishes your spirit and helps you grow in your salvation. It helps you mature. That’s why reading your Bible is so important, because God’s Word is powerful! Reading the Bible makes a difference in your life. In fact, I would go so far as to say, that if you aren’t feeding on the Word then you are not growing.
So let me encourage you to read God’s Word, because it is one of the main ways you grow in holiness. And have a plan for how you are going to go about reading the Bible. The Bible is too important a tool in your Christian growth to be so haphazard with it. There are all sorts of different ways you can go about it but here's a link to the Bible reading plan I am using. It'll take you through the entire Bible in a year, or (if you prefer) you can do just one testament or the other this year and make your way through the entire Bible in two years. It doesn't matter what plan you use as much as it matters that you read the Bible.
*Saucy, Robert. Scripture: Its Power, Authority, and Relevance. (Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville, TN) 2001, p10-11.
No comments:
Post a Comment