Values Blog
Knowing the Word
Jim Johnston, writing on LifeWay Christian Resources’ Web site “Threads,” expresses his concern that “Christianity in my community seems to be shrinking.”
He writes, “I think we’re losing the ability to communicate our faith in Christ effectively to the lost. It’s not because we don’t have snappy, simple presentations of the gospel that you can communicate in five minutes or less. We can stack those tracts to the rafters. I believe it’s because we ARE NOT people of biblical depth, people who can answer the hard questions the world asks, beyond the five minute presentations we have memorized.”
It comes down to the fact that many of us are—at best—functionally illiterate when it comes to the Bible. “We don’t know Gods Word, and when we don’t know Gods Word, we manufacture our own brand of Christianity by picking up the thoughts and feelings of people we know,” Jim continues.
It is difficult to live out biblical values when our knowledge of Scripture is fuzzy. Without a commitment to living in God’s Word, the likelihood is that we won’t be living for God in the world.
Jim makes these suggestions:
- Make sure everyone in your church and Bible study classes has access to a Bible.
- Encourage your family and friends to be involved in a “systematic method of reading through the Bible.”
- Make sure you are a student of the Word.
- Teach from the Bible, not your experience or the latest book you’ve read.
- Focus on Scripture memory.
Living God’s values is real tough when you don’t know God all that much.
Comments
1
I’m in agreement with you Jim, but wonder if anyone has any creative ways to work on your second suggestion of encouraging our church to be involved in a systematic method of reading Scripture. I’d love to come up with a neat way for our whole church to do that together that doesn’t feel like a chore. Any ideas?
posted at 1:54pm on June 24, 2008 by David
2
Try Southern Seminary professor Don Whitney’s resource to print out a Bible reading plan available at his website under the resources section at http://www.spiritualdisciplines.org/ministry.html. The Navigators also have many resources to choose from at http://www.navpress.com/Magazines/DiscipleshipJournal/BibleReadingPlans/. All of these from both sources are free and can be downloaded and reprinted.
posted at 8:25am on June 25, 2008 by Tammi Ledbetter