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How would you prioritize the three reasons given in this lesson for studying the Bible for yourself: “It is essential to knowing and loving God;” “It is essential for growing up in God;” and “It is essential to serving God”? What is the basis for how you prioritize them? Are any of the three reasons more or less important for you than the others? Do you have other reasons than these?
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As a believer, I need to depend on God’s word for my spiritual growth. I need His word daily for my nourishment or else I will be lacking the capacity to be effective in HIs ministry and serving Him. All these three are essentials and must go hand and hand for me to become an effective and useful instruments in the body of Christ and for the glory of Christ. By His grace through the leading of His Holy Spirit I am enabled.
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For me, the order is as stated; knowing and loving God, without knowing and loving Him I will not be able to grow in Him and without growing in Him I would not be able to faithfully serve Him. They are all important in developing our identity as His children.
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I don’t think that these reasons are to be ranked. I think they in fact work in service of each other. The ultimate call of people is to relationship with God. This relationship is to be based on truth-a right beholding of God and ourselves. It is this truth that invites us to love God. That is, when we are made privy to truth about God we are also invited, and enabled by His Holy Spirit, to embrace it. It is in the embrace of the truth that we come to love God. God says that it is by obeying His commandments that we show our love for Him. (John 14:15). As we obey Him we are also invited to know Him in a deeper way and this results in a call to deeper expressions of love on our part and a “growing up in God”. The good works the Lord has prepared in advance are entered effectively by us when we are in intimate relationship with God. (John 15:5 and Ephesians 2:10). We serve God in a way that glorifies Him when we walk with Him. We walk with Him, one Word at a time.
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[Why are these simple one-word questions helpful in discovering the meaning of a passage: Who? Why? When? Where? How? Wherefore?] We are able to see the passage from all aspects. We get a well-rounded understanding when we answer all of those one-word questions.
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[Why are these simple one-word questions helpful in discovering the meaning of a passage: Who? Why? When? Where? How? Wherefore?] They are great ways to discover the truth and context of any thing that we are investigating, whether a Bible Passage or a newspaper story!
