{"id":2588,"date":"2014-11-21T17:39:53","date_gmt":"2014-11-21T17:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/?p=2588"},"modified":"2017-01-05T16:42:22","modified_gmt":"2017-01-05T16:42:22","slug":"is-your-bible-gathering-dust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/2014\/11\/is-your-bible-gathering-dust.html","title":{"rendered":"Is your Bible gathering dust?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/garycombsorg.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2014\/11\/DustyBible.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-2589\" src=\"https:\/\/garycombsorg.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2014\/11\/DustyBible.jpg\" alt=\"DustyBible\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" data-wp-pid=\"2589\" \/><\/a>\u201cFor\u00a0the word of God is living and\u00a0active,\u00a0sharper than any\u00a0two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and\u00a0discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart\u201d<\/em> (Hebrews 4:12).<\/p>\n<p>Where\u2019s your Bible? Have you picked it up lately? If you find it, does it have an inch of dust and a couple of water-rings on it where you\u2019ve been using it as a coaster?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo way!\u201d You say. \u201cI\u2019d never abuse the Bible like that. I keep it in the box it came in when my grandmother gave it to me for graduation. Look, it\u2019s got my name on the front and it still has that new Bible smell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the thing. The Word of God is not the leather binding. It\u2019s not the gold-gilded tissue thin paper. It\u2019s not even the ink (whether black or red). The Bible is not a magical charm to be held up in the air to claim health, wealth and prosperity. Nor is it a talisman to put under your pillow to ward off nightmares and such.<\/p>\n<p>Listen to what C. H. Spurgeon said about\u00a0the right way to handle God&#8217;s Word:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWhat is the right way, then, to handle the Word of Truth? It is like a sword, and it was not meant to be played with. That is not rightly to handle the Gospel; it must be used in earnest and pushed home. Are you converted, my Friends? Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Are you saved, or not? Swords are meant to cut and hack, wound and kill\u2014and the Word of God is for pricking men in the heart, and killing their sins. The Word of God is not committed to God\u2019s ministers to amuse men with its glitter, nor to charm them with the jewels in its hilt, but to conquer their souls for Jesus Christ!\u201d &#8211; <em>C. H. Spurgeon<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Word of God must be read and heard to have its effect on us. When we read and study the Bible it comes to life in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is no longer a dry, dusty book. It is \u201cliving and active.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are\u00a0<strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">four steps<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0that we can follow to experience its\u00a0\u201cliving and active\u201d effect on our lives:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Observation<\/strong>. Open and read the Bible asking questions like: who, what, when, where and how. Write down your observations.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Illumination<\/strong>. Ask the Lord to give you light to understand what He is saying. It is His Word, not ours. We don\u2019t want our own multiple interpretations. We want His. Not, &#8220;this is what it means to me,&#8221; but &#8220;thus saith the Lord.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Interpretation<\/strong>. After observing and meditating on God\u2019s word for illumination. Write down what the text meant in the time period and setting it was written. Then, write down the timeless principles that you see emerging.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Application<\/strong>. Ask, \u201cHow does this apply to me and what changes do I need to make in my life?\u201d This is where the Bible gets its nickname, \u201cThe Sword.\u201d Perhaps if the author of Hebrews were writing today, he would have called it a \u201cscalpel,\u201d because God\u2019s Word works like a surgical\u00a0instrument to reveal and excise sin in our lives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, get those Bibles out, blow off the dust, find a quiet corner and read. Ask God to speak to you today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cFor\u00a0the word of God is living and\u00a0active,\u00a0sharper than any\u00a0two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and\u00a0discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart\u201d (Hebrews 4:12). Where\u2019s your Bible? Have you picked it up lately? If you find it, does it have an inch of dust and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2061,1,2062],"tags":[2022,2069,2095,2070,2279,2052,2213,2326,2282,2327],"location":[],"class_list":["post-2588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion","category-uncategorized","category-weblogs","tag-bible","tag-christ","tag-gary-combs","tag-god","tag-gods-word","tag-jesus","tag-study","tag-sword","tag-word","tag-word-of-truth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2588"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5023,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2588\/revisions\/5023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2588"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=2588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}