The Bible interpretation is not as easy as we think it is. It has to do with a critical understanding of the Word of God. When we analyse the Word of God, we work on it with in-depth reasoning and logic.
Some topics have been selected by Selwyn Hughes in which Biblical expositions have been done. This article can be used as a devotional guide and be blessed. Individuals, families, church fellowships and others can use this text. You can read more similar posts on our devotional page of the site.
1. In God’s gym
Read and Meditate – 1 Timothy 4:1-16
‘… train yourself to be godly.’ (v.7)
How better to begin this year than by determining to become spiritually fit – ready for the race marked out for us (Heb. I2:I)?
To be lean and fit spiritually should be the aim of every one of Christ’s disciples. ‘The biggest problem in the Church,’ says one writer, ‘is that Christians regularly report unfit for duty. And a big part of their unfitness results from a lack of spiritual exercise.
How do we keep our physical bodies trim? We do it by exercising. It is now a well-known fact that to lose excess weight, it is helpful to do more than diet. One should engage in physical exercise as well. And just as physical exercises increase the body’s fitness and health, so spiritual exercises improve spiritual fitness and vitality.
The Authorised Version of the Bible translates the verse before us today in 1 1Thess. 5:11 way: ‘Exercise thyself rather unto godliness. The word ‘exercise’ in Greek is gym, from which our English words’ gymnasium’ and ‘gymnastics’ are derived.
In this issue, join me in enrolling in God’s Paul wants to start a spiritual exercise programme for believers? Hopefully will result in us being spiritually fitter than ever before. As our text for today makes plain, godliness does not just happen. We have to train ourselves for it.
An athlete does not achieve greatness in his or her sport by eating badly and not training. And we won’t move forward in our spiritual lives if we neglect to train ourselves in the ways of God. So, the challenge facing us as we begin this issue is to ‘prepare for a workout’. There is no other way to find health for the soul.
Prayer
O Father, help me rise to this challenge. I want to be fitter than ever this year – fit to carry out Your purposes. May all spiritual flabbiness, all excess spiritual weight, be trimmed by exercising my soul. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
2. God’s only published work
Read and Meditate -2 Timothy 3:12-17
‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for…training in righteousness…'(v.16)
Godly people are most often disciplined people. Call to find the names of some of the heroes of Christianity! History – Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Spurgeon, George Müller, Billy Graham and others – and what do you find? All were disciplined people. Looking back, I can say that I have never known a man or woman who evidenced a high degree of ‘spiritual fitness’ who was not a disciplined person.
The Word of God
It is to have a regular (preferably daily) intake of the Word of God. No spiritual exercise is more important than reading, studying and meditating on the Scriptures. Other books may draw their inspiration from the Scriptures, but the Bible is the only book that has upon it the stamp of the divine. Would you like to know who God is and what He is like? Do you want to know how to live a life that pleases Him? The answers cannot be found anywhere else.
If we are to know God and train ourselves for godliness, we must find ways to read and understand the Word of God and come to it frequently. The number of committed Christians who spend time studying the Bible regularly is astonishingly low. If all the Christians who neglect regular reading of the Word of God were to blow the dust off their Bibles simultaneously, we would probably experience the greatest duststorm in history!
Prayer
Father, I already realise the importance of exposing my soul to Your Word regularly, but help me become even more deeply convinced of this. May Your Word be my ‘necessary food’. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
3. Hearing the Word of God
Read and Meditate-1 Timothy 4:1-16
‘Until l come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, sure to preaching and teaching.'(v.13)
The major point we are making in these opening days of a new year is this: the soul needs to be exercised just as much as the body. And one of the most important exercises is to absorb the Word of God daily or at least regularly.
A concern felt not only by me but by others, too, is that in many Christian meetings or services, little or no place is given to the public reading of the Scriptures. I have been in several churches where there was a great deal of music, singing and worship, but not once were the congregation asked to remain silent and listen to the reading of the Word.
The Message of God
A verse in Roman10I0 says: .. faith comes from hearing the message. And the message is heard through the word of Christ (v.17). Now that does not mean a person can come to faith in Christ only by hearing Scripture for. as history shows, multitudes have come to know the Lord through reading it for themselves.
What Paul is emphasising is the need to preach and teach God’s message, and part of that commission is to deliver the precise words of Scripture. Many a time, as I have listened to the Bible being read in church. I have picked up something through the reader’s emphasis on a particular word – something I had missed in my reading of the Scriptures.
God’s people need to sing, praise and worship Him, but it is also important for them to hear His Word. We must exercise ourselves to listen to that Word. But how can we do that if, when we go to church or a meeting, the Bible is not read?
Prayer
O Father, awaken Your Church to the importance of publicly reading Your Word – the Word that is greater than men’s words. Help us give it its rightful place in our midst. In Christ’s name.Amen.
4. Reading the Bible
Read and Meditate -Matthew 4:1-11
‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'(v.4)
The daily or regular intake of the Scriptures is not only the first exercise of the soul; it is also the broadest. One writer says: ‘It’s much like a university comprised of many colleges, each specialising in a different discipline, yet all united under the general name of the university.
Daily Meditation
Take, for example, the exercise of reading. A Gallup Poll conducted some years ago in the USA concluded that no factor is more influential in shaping a person’s moral and social behaviour than regular reading of the Bible. If you want to become more like Jesus and reflect His character, discipline yourself to read the Scriptures.
Some pastors told me recently that they had discovered many people object to emphasis on the need to read the Bible daily because Exod 16:11-21; it is legalistic. One pastor said: ‘I dare not use the Acts 2:42-47 word “daily” about Bible reading because if I did, it would bring howls of protest.
Listen to what John Blanchard writes about daily Bible reading in his book How to Enjoy Your Bible: ‘Surely we have to be realistic and daily practice honesty with ourselves to know how regularly the Early needs to turn to the Bible. Every day! How often do we need to hear God’s voice, feel his touch, and know his power? The answer to all these questions is the same: every day!
But perhaps the great American preacher D.L. Moody put it best when he said: ‘A man can no more take in a supply of grace for the future than he can eat enough for the next six months or take sufficient air into his lungs at one time to last a week.’
Prayer
Father, I see I have to draw on your boundless store of grace, some of which comes to me only as I read Your Word, from hour to hour, day by day. I see this, but help me live by it. In Christ’s name, I pray. Amen.
5. Inflow-outflow
Read and Meditate – Mark 5:1-20
‘Jesus … said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you…(v.19)
We have talked about several spiritual disciplines over the past weeks; now we consider another important one – the discipline of sharing our faith with others. Some of the disciplines we are looking at in this issue relate to inflow; this one is concerned with outflow. There can be no outflow without an inflow, and the inflow will come to a complete halt if there is no outflow.
To describe sharing as a discipline may sound strange to some, but such are the vagaries of human nature that if we do not discipline ourselves to do so, we may never do so at all. We should discipline ourselves to share by deed and word what we have found as we have prayed and read the Word.
Regular Bible Rumination
Many fail to do this. They are earnest and regular in the way they take in, but not as disciplined in the way they give out. Sometimes. When they are in the mood, they will share Jesus with others, but this seems to depend more on feelings than choice.
Several Christians I have met have told me that they consider themselves to be living in obedience to the Lord as far as the other spiritual disciplines are concerned, but not one person has ever said they are as obedient in sharing with others as they should be. Time and time again, I have heard older Christians comment:
‘My greatest regret in life is that I have missed so many opportunities to share Jesus Christ with others,’ or. ‘If I could relive my life, I think I would be more faithful in sharing my faith with others. Training ourselves in the way of God requires us to share Christ with others – when appropriate – even though it might feel inconvenient.
Prayer
O God, forgive me that I miss so many opportunities to share my faith. Help me discipline myself in this regard, but grant me wisdom so that I don’t pester people and discredit the faith. InJesus’ name. Amen.
