Bible Diet

How much are you reading your Bible? Beyond just reading, you could be studying. You could memorize, and be meditating.

However much you are doing, it is not enough. It’s not enough even if you have the whole book memorized. It’s insufficient because no one ever got saved by just reading the Book. No one ever achieved righteousness by learning and obeying the law Yahweh gave Israel through Moses. No one ever met Jesus just by studying Scripture.

All of those spiritual blessings happen only because the Holy Spirit causes them to happen. Knowing what is written makes listening to the Spirit easier most of the time. Do not forget that the Pharisees had the Scriptures memorized. Still, they could not recognize the Word of God when He stood in front of them and interpreted the Scriptures. Their failure was caused by a refusal to listen to the Spirit.

You can get saved by the Spirit without ever hearing a Bible verse. You cannot get saved by knowing all the verses unless the Father draws you by His Spirit. If you can hear His Spirit, you can receive all things. If all you have is the Book, and no interest in listening to the Spirit, you can only achieve becoming religious at best.

The ekklesias of Christ didn’t have a New Testament for a few hundred years. They turned the world upside down. The church has had the New Testament for 15 hundred years, and the world continually turns it upside down. If you have to choose, take the Spirit. If you can have both the Book and the Spirit, recognize the Book still has no value if you don’t learn to let the Spirit guide you into all truth (John 16).