Saturday, December 22, 2012

God's Word - Quality Or Quantity?

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,"
2 Timothy 3:16 (NKJV)

God's Word is profitable and valuable for us; I like to say that the Bible is our blueprint for life.  Everything recorded in the Bible can be helpful to us, and at different times some parts of the Bible are more relevant to us than others.  One thing I have noticed over the years is that some people get the idea that more is always better, especially when it comes to the Bible.  Now I am certainly not saying that people need less of God's Word but my question is, do quality and quantity always go together, especially when it comes to the Bible?

For example, just because I have read the Bible once or more, does that automatically mean that I really have an understanding of it and I know how to apply what God's Word says to my own life?  This is an issue for a lot of Christians.  When you tell some people what the Bible says about their situation they will say things like, "Well yes I know the Bible says that!"  But if we really do "know" what the Bible says and we understand it doesn't that mean that we will then act on it and it then becomes a part of our life?

We need to know what the Bible says but our goal should not just be amassing quantity, we should strive for quality.  When we know and understand even one verse from the Bible it can change our life.  Just knowing a lot of facts without a practical understanding of the facts is useless.  We should all make sure that we have a regular time of reading and studying God's Word but we don't want to just hurry through what we are reading so we can check a chapter or book off of our reading list.  We need to come to God's Word with an understanding that all of God's Word is beneficial and it can change our life, that is a good way to get quality from God's Word.

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