The worst thing we can ever do if we're not really into reading the Bible is to get saved. The Spirit of God that indwells us aches for the Scriptures and denies us the comfort and the fullest satisfactions that only come when we are tuned into to God's Word and subsequently, His Will.
The second worst thing we can do is to pick the Bible up once and really regard it as God's own Word and Truth. Then, not only do we know the ache, the hunger pangs of our Spirit, we also know the source and cause of them - and the remedy for them.
And, of course, the best thing we can ever do if we're really into pleasing, serving, enjoying, loving and glorifying the Creator of the Universe, the Savior of the World, the Author and Finisher of Our Faith, the Lamb of God that was slain for our sin, the Fountain of Eternal Life... the best thing we can do is to drink fully and continuously of His marvelous gift to us... His very Words.
How tragic is it that we, a race so bound to self-serving agendas, would not choose to do the very thing that would benefit us most?
Be it blindness, pride or disbelief, Lord, forgive me of what has kept me from Your precious Words. Enlighten my heart to Your truth and let me walk in the fullness of what You intend our relationship to be.
In the name, authority, sufficiency, power and will of Christ,
Amen.
"The Holy Scriptures are our letters from home."
- Augustine
"Greater is the authority of the Scriptures than all the powers of the human mind."
- Augustine
"Think here about that basic book. Christianity stands or falls with the Bible. It is no use saying, as the liberalists or modernists do, that so long as we have Jesus we do not need an infallibly inspired Bible. Nay, all that we know authentically about the Lord Jesus we owe, and shall keep on owing, to the Bible. To say that so long as we have Jesus we do not need the Bible is about equal to saying that so long as we have the sunshine we don't need the sun.
Let it be sounded out again: the life-and-death issue is the Bible More than ever in these days we evangelical ministers and leader: and christian educationalists need to be men who really believe the Bible, and know the Bible, and preach the Bible, and love the Bible and live the Bible, and, if need be, are ready to die for the Bible. Our Protestant churches are needing a new generation of Bible prophets, not just pulpiteers. We are needing men who have made themselves experts in putting over the case for the Bible and it mighty truths. Far too many ministers are so busy with secondary matters that they have not time to become the Bible masters an teachers which they ought to be. When the minister's study becomes an office, the prophet has degenerated into a manager and the pulpit becomes an impertinence. The crying need just now is for prophets, not just preachers; for ministers, not just managers; for men with a passion to put our dear old Bible back where it ought to be in the christian faith, in the Protestant pulpit in the nation's schools, and in the life of the people. Let all of us help toward that end."
- J. Sidlow Baxter
"The Reformers developed the doctrine of Scripture as over against the Roman Catholics and some of the Protestant sects. While Rome taught that the Bible owes its authority to the Church, they maintained that it has authority in itself as the inspired Word of God. They also upheld the necessity of Scripture as the divinely appointed means of grace over against the Roman Catholics, who asserted that the Church had no absolute need of it, and some of the Protestant sects, who exalted the "inner light," or the word of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the people of God, at the expense of Scripture. In opposition to Rome they further defended the clearness of the Bible. They did not deny that it contains mysteries too deep for human understanding, but simply contended that the knowledge necessary unto salvation, though not equally clear on every page of the Bible, is yet conveyed in a manner so simple that anyone earnestly seeking salvation can easily gather this knowledge for himself, and need not depend on the interpretation of the Church or the priesthood. Finally, they also defended the sufficiency of Scripture, and thereby denied the need of the tradition of the Roman Catholics and of the inner light of the Anabaptists."
- Louis Berkhof
"The Bible is no mere book, but it's a living creature with a power that conquers all who oppose it."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
". . . there's no way around it, the faith of a Christian stands or falls on two things - on the inspiration of Scripture and on the deity of Christ. If either of these are false - if the Bible is not God's eternal Word, or if Christ is not God's Son - Christianity is false. It is bound to crumble and fall. If these two things are true, however, Christianity will stand forever, regardless of how many skeptics, atheists, or infidels attack it."
- Bob Buchannon
"It is the native property of the divine Word never to make its appearance without disturbing Satan and rousing his opposition."
- John Calvin
"A man without a Bible is like a ship without a sea."
- James Ryle
"Never let good books take the place of the Bible. Drink from the Well, not from the streams that flow from the Well."
- Amy Carmichael
"The Bible is not such a book a man would write if he could, or could write if he would."
- Lewis Sperry Chafer
"The Bible contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's charter. Here Paradise is restored, Heaven opened and the gates of hell disclosed.
Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end.
It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. It is given you in life, will be opened at the judgment, and be remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, will regard the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents."
- Author Unknown
"Give the Bible first place among your books and your heart will burn within you as He through its pages talks with you by the way. It will become to you an increasing power and joy, and you will find yourself saying in genuine gladness,
Holy Bible, book divine,
Precious treasure, thou art mine."
- Clovis G. Chappell
"The authority and truth of Scripture is not an obscure issue reserved for the private debate and entertainment of theologians, it is relevant indeed critical for every serious Christian."
- Charles Colson
"The Bible is...as necessary to spiritual life as breath is to natural life. There is nothing more essential to our lives than the Word of God."
- Jack Hayford
"Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself but because it contradicts them."
- E. Paul Hovey
"The existence of the Bible, as a book for the people, is the greatest benefit which the human race has ever experienced. Every attempt to belittle it is a crime against humanity."
- Immanuel Kant
" . . . the Bible is the best-loved, never-read book of all time. It has become the world's most popular coffee-table book. Even if carried consistently to church, it is picked up from the coffee table only to be returned there by Sunday lunch."
- Woodrow Kroll
"unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason -- I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other -- my conscience is captive to the Word of God . . . God help me! Here I stand."
- Martin Luther
"The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold on me."
- Martin Luther
"As Christians, we have certain resolute beliefs about the Word of God, all of which we should be able to substantiate. Because we spend so much of our time studying it, teaching it, and living by its principles, we should know the evidence that reinforces the Bible's authenticity. The Bible was written by God to reveal Himself. It is the only authoritative and absolutely reliable record of man's origin, dilemma, salvation, and destiny. It serves as man's only moral and spiritual standard. God inspired every word of the original manuscripts, and they were without error in every detail. The Bible is the only completely trustworthy source of knowledge about God. Man can't learn all he needs to know about God from human reason, philosophy, or even experience. God alone is the source of the knowledge about Himself, and He has chosen to reveal Himself in the Bible and in no other book. "
Dr. John F. MacArthur Jr.
"The vigor of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts."
- George Mueller
"Here then, is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God’s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy."
- R.C. Sproul
"Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years."
- Charles Haddon Spurgeon
"The Bible was written in tears, and to tears it yields its best treasures."
- A.W. Tozer
"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible."
- George Washington
"It is impossible to enslave mentally or socially a Bible-reading people. The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom."
Horace Greeley (1811-1872), American newspaper editor
Here is the spring where waters flow,
To quench our heat of sin;
Here is the tree where truth doth grow,
To lead our lives therein:
Here is the judge that stints the strife,
When men's devices fail:
Here is the bread that feeds the life
That death cannot assail.
The tidings of salvation dear,
Comes to our ears from hence:
The fortress of our faith is here,
And shield of our defense.
Then be not like the swine that hath
A pearl at his desire,
And takes more pleasure from the trough
And wallowing in the mire.
Read not this book in any case,
But with a single eye:
Read not but first desire God's grace,
To understand thereby.
Pray still in faith with this respect,
To bear good fruit therein,
That knowledge may bring this effect,
To mortify thy sin.
Then happy you shall be in all your life,
What so to you befalls:
Yes, double happy you shall be,
When God by death you calls.
- From The First Bible Printed In Scotland (1576)
