Hello! And thank you for your presence throughout this whole years. I will talk today about the experience of this year , the experience of reading the Bible in a year and posting about it .
Fist I would like to say that it is true what Pal said in 1 Corinthians that "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (`Corinthians 2:9) . And this rings true in so many ways! In this past year I have found that there is nothing else like God , and the blessings that he has given me are too many to count. Through His word I have discovered Him in all ways, both great and small. The Bible is, in it's core' a step taken by God to bridge the gap that sin has put between us and Himself. The Bible is also, in it's core, a declaration of love ,because everything God does He does it out of love. And we can feel His love permeating the pages and the words and just being so present. Thus we cannot read the Bible like a book, like a piece of information , because that would be missing on what is beneath the surface. Beneath lies a dialogue because to read God's word is to have a dialogue with the LORD. When you read the Word and you begin to understand the nature of our world, the works of Christ, how He has always been there , fulfilling the plan of redemption , you are not merely being given information. You are invited to a dialogue because Christ want to be in our hearts. Thus beyond the information is Chris's love and the Word is how He speaks about it. The LORD wants to write the law on our hearts so that we don't blindly follow it , like a convention, a norm, something we must adhere to. We follow Christ's commandments because through His Word, through the constant dialogue in our hearts and minds with the Holy Spirit we came to know Him and to love Him! This is the ultimate conclusion of reading the Bible- not knowledge of God but love of God! As Paul asks in 1Corinthians 13:2 "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." So, how has this experience affected me? In ways both small and great . But first and foremost I have come to a deeper love of Christ, a deeper love of God! And this is what matters in the end! Because all scripture is contained and fulfilled in love of God which is necessarily reflected and accompanied by the love of our neighbour. The history, the events, the thoughts , the prophecies , all are reflections of men fulfilling or not fulfilling these commandments of love and of God and Christ fulfilling all love! And yes there are times when it was hard, or when it was confusing. But all obstacles can be surpassed through prayer; through prayer the LORD shall give us the power to cross all obstacles and continue on a path set before us by Himself. This path leads to Himself and if you follow , if you dedicate yourself to reading the Bible not with a sterile intellectualism but with truth and desire to discover God , you shall end up in His presence. You shall end up beginning to know Him , loving Him, discovering more and more of Him. And the beauty of it is that this journey never stops! You always have more of Christ to know and to discover and to love. While we are in these lives we do not reach perfection but we can strive for it. Reading the Bible is a strive for the perfect relationship to God and through this you reflected all that is in the scriptures.
For me this was a transformation because over the days and months God has worked in my heart without me even realising! This is the power of the word of God. And Christ made me a better man, He made me realise my sins and when i read that i had done the same mistakes and how these were so ugly to the LORD and they angered Him my heart trembled because of my sin and i felt a great sorrow. But Christ is the one who uplifted me after making me realise these things! And with every new day my heart grew; and even though i am the first of the sinner God has given me such great things and gifts that i cannot but stand and marvel at the extraordinary character of His love! The personal relationship that i began to develop with Him is the greatest of gifts because while all else perishes this does not , but grows , if you let it , stronger and stronger in your heart! There is so much more that i can say but these things you must discover yourselves and this journey is one that we should undertake everyday of our lives. We cannot , because of our sins, ever really complete it , until we shall be in the last day purified by Christ when redemption will be completely fulfilled and we shall be with Him in the new Jerusalem. But why lose the time that we are given on this earth and postpone having this relationship? So if we seek God above all else in our daily life, through every action that we do, then He, who is knocking at the door of our heart shall come in and we shall be , because of Christ, in communion with Him. Reading the Bible is a necessary experience towards this communion ,which is only possible through Christ, through His word , through faith and acts of faith, through hope and through love.
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