By William Oldham

For several years I have daily posted a Bible reading on Facebook which, if followed, would take you through the entire Bible in one year. For many years I have tried to persuade my Christian family to read through the Bible every year. Now, why do that? Do you have to read the Bible to be a Christian? I’m going to try to answer with a Scripture from the Bible itself.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

The very first need of every Christian is to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And God has given us the means whereby we may grow and mature in the faith, to know what is true of the God and Father of our salvation. There are no second and third generation Christians; every generation produces new Christians who begin as babies and must feed and be fed God’s word. The apostle Peter says it like this:

“Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.” 1 Peter 2:2

There are two evils in the world today regarding this subject, and that is why I am writing another column about this. The first is the willingness of believers to ignore reading the Bible and to settle for the message/messages they hear from a preacher or teacher. The second evil is that many false teachers have not only entered the church, but gained a large following. The folks who don’t read the Bible are content to happily follow the wolves in sheep’s clothing, wherever they may lead them—which is destruction.

The Bible is the inspired, infallible, inerrant word of God. It is the only book God has written, and it has been written for your learning. God intended for it to be written in your language so that you could easily understand it with the mind God has given you. As a Christian, The Father and Jesus have Given you the Holy Spirit so that on your own, you may learn all that God wants you to know about the Triune Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

This all comes to the child of God by the faith that God gives us. Absolutely everything about our salvation is a gift from God. During the early years of my life, the Scriptures were read in Latin which had no meaning whatsoever to me. When I was born again, I purchased a Bible and began reading it. I couldn’t believe the treasures of truth that I found. That was almost 57 years ago, and I haven’t stopped reading it since. I read through the Bible every year, and have read it in many different versions.

But I don’t say this as a brag, or look what I have done. I say this because the most important thing in your life, the only thing that matters, is to know the God of your salvation and His purpose for your life, and His word clearly reveals that to you.

We were dead in trespasses and sin—spiritual dead! There was nothing in us that merited God’s favor; but God, in His great mercy and love came to us and raised us up to life while we were sinners, and placed us in His Son, and adopted us as His children. He rescued us from the domain of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His dear Son, gave us to be heirs with Jesus, and sealed us with His Holy Spirit. Praise God!

My dear brothers and sisters, come away from all that dead stuff you’re being fed on, and come to the table of the living God; it is filled with rich food.

“…Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4

Brother Bill is a Bible teacher and can be contacted at bboldham@sbcglobal.net