Imagine you wake up one morning and begin to get ready for the day. When you look at yourself in the mirror, you are horrified by what you see: you have a massive case of bedhead, eye crust is piled up in your eyelids, last night’s dinner is stuck between your teeth, and you look like you haven’t showered in days. Would you shrug it off and start your day without cleaning up first? No way!
When we read the Bible, it’s like looking into a mirror. The Bible reveals who God is and also who we are. It tells the story of God’s love for all people and the whole creation and how He is redeeming the world through Jesus. Part of what the Bible shows us is how sin operates in the world, and it even exposes our sin and shows us our need for God. Throughout the Bible, God invites us to live in His good ways—which must be centered around putting our trust in Jesus. Just as it wouldn’t make sense to look in the mirror and then not do anything about your appearance, it doesn’t make any sense to read the Bible and not be affected by it.
James tells us that the person who reads the Bible and never does what it says is deceiving themselves—they are tricking themselves into thinking that everything
is okay when it’s definitely not! It can be difficult to read the Bible and become convicted of sin. But as we come to understand our sinfulness, we also gain a deeper appreciation for the work of Jesus on the cross. He took all our sins upon Himself and died in our place so that we could be forgiven. But that wasn’t the end. Jesus rose from the dead, beating sin and death and promising to return to heal all the effects of sin. If we have put our trust in Jesus, we can know that all our sins are forgiven. Now, Jesus is calling us to follow Him, and that means being both hearers and doers of the Word. • Jacob Bier
• In John 14:15, Jesus says that obedience is a sign of our love for Him. We don’t obey God to earn His love— He already loves us completely! Rather, we obey God because He loves us and He is transforming us through Jesus. How might this truth affect the way you read the Bible?
• When we realize we have sinned, Jesus invites us to come to Him. As we turn away from sin and back toward God, He forgives us and empowers us to live in His good ways. Are there any sins you would like to confess to God?
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:22 (NIV)
Read Verses:
1Pet.5.8-1Pet.5.11|Phil.3.14|Rom.7.14-Rom.8.39
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