You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life (John 5:39, 40).
At the beginning of my freshman year at the University of Georgia, I made a vow to be God's guy. I was full of zeal and determined to be a shining example to those around me.
The first morning I picked up my Bible and started reading Matthew - four chapters that day, and four the next, and so on for several months.
I have to confess, I didn't get very much out of what I read back then. Honestly, it was nothing more than words on a page. If someone had asked me what I learned from my daily reading, I would not have had an answer. I just knew I had checked the box "Read 4 chapters" on my list of things to do.
Here is what I discovered. I was reading the Bible like the Pharisees, who diligently studied the Scriptures to have eternal life. They proudly checked the box "study the Scriptures" and yet their result was no more satisfying than mine.
They missed Jesus.
And I did too. I tried to make the Bible about me.
But it is his story, God's testimony concerning His Son. When I finally began to read the Bible to learn about Jesus, everything changed.
Maybe you have had the same experience. The next time you open the Bible, read it to grow in your knowledge of Him. It will change your life.
In Him,
Bob Christopher