So, you’ve been reading this devotional, you come to Cornerstone, you love God and have committed your life to Him. Those things are all awesome! You’ve been reading your Bible and you and your family are growing in your spirituality – taking a journey that will yield much fruit.
As you approach this day, I would submit that reading the Bible to check something off of your to-do list is not enough. Is the discipline of consistency in your Bible reading admirable? Absolutely! But scripture is not just a book to be read and words for eyes to see, but God’s testimony of Jesus and His will for our lives. The truth is we don’t have to read the Bible to know right from wrong or to know that God exists.
From the time you’re born and within the society you’re likely raised in, right and wrong are clearly explained everywhere. and guilt and shame are pretty good indicators that something is wrong. Also. there are many ways outside of scripture to see and experience the reality of God – but to know the person of Jesus Christ and the will of God not only for your life but your family and friends here now and to come, there is no comparison to the clarity and vantage point of scripture.
People testify about Jesus all the time – most sermons are actually testimonies of God’s faithfulness in the life of the orator and encouragement to the listeners to believe. God is still on the move and still changing the hearts, minds and lives of His people. But Jesus tells us in this passage that the testimony of man is not good enough for or of Him. That “There is one who bears witness of me and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true” – that one is God! That witness is found in the scriptures “and it is they that bear witness about me.”
John 5:39 Search the Scriptures…they testify of Me
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved…rightly dividing the Word of truth
Reading your Bible is not just one more thing on your Jesus to-do list. It is the discovery of the foundation of who we are, whose we are, and who we’re meant to be. Don’t just read to finish chapters – study to seek to understand your Savior. “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
What does this have to do with Christmas? Jesus is the reason for the season – not just the day of His birth – but His life and what it fully means for God to send such a miracle into a manger.
Cassie Davis