I have been on a journey for about 10 months to just read the Bible. I randomly started in 1 Samuel one day as part of a plan and just kept reading. I recently started Hebrews. This has been a long journey but one that has been so good and has taught me a lot of knowledge.
Along the way I have gone through different studies and commentaries as well as did some word studies. I love learning what the actual Hebrew and Greek word is and what it means and what it adds to the context and meaning of a passage.
Since I hit about Matthew, I have been working harder to dig deeper and learn as much as I can about content, background, who’s it to, etc. I have been trying to learn the actual meanings of these passages and not listen to what just the church or other influencers have to say about the text but have been reading and learning it for myself. There is a lot of things that people either don’t read within the context or take straight out of meaning so I have been working on fixing all the out of context verses I have really heard and learn from God what He wants to teach me.
There are 5 different genres within the New Testament and 6 in the Old Testament. The Nt was written primarily in Greek while the OT primarily in Hebrew. There is a lot of different authors and people being written to. This kind of information is key when reading the Bible within the context it was written.
I would love to take you through some of the things I have been learning and some verses or passages that have had a big impact on me.
You ready? Let’s go!
Most of these will be from the NT as that has really been what I have been studying the most the past few months. But don’t discredit the OT. It has just as much knowledge and wisdom as the NT.
One of the biggest things I have been learning is just how we are supposed to speak and how we are not supposed to speak. It talks about in Proverbs having words as sweet as honey. It talks about in other places have speech “seasoned with salt”. When you speak, it should be done in a gentle, not harsh way. It should also be done in a way that will not directly hurt the other person through the words you say. We are also supposed to watch how we say things. Are we saying them in slander? What’s the heart posture behind what you are saying. Is it gossip? Those things are not allowed in our life as Christ followers. I work in retail. There is a lot of gossiping that goes on at my work. I have been pretty bad in the past about taking part in it. I am learning that we do not have to take part of that to be accepted by this world. This world will not accept Christians fully. We need to remember that we are not of this world. We live in this world but are not to act of this world.
One verse that has really stuck with me since I read it was 2 Corinthians 4:7 “Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.” The passage then goes into not being crushed, abandoned, etc. This verse really stuck to me because there are multiple other places within the Bible that humans are called something that has to do with clay. Whether it was about God being the potter or us being clay, these pointed back to this verse. After doing some digging, the treasure that is talked about here is the knowledge of God which we get through Christ and the clay jars resemble our body. Check out this verse map I did on this specific verse (I do have horrible handwriting haha).
But the only way to receive the knowledge of the treasure is through God’s power. We would never be able to reach it on our own. Something about this has really stuck with me since I read it a little while ago. The knowledge of Christ is the best treasure we could ever have on this side of heaven. Knowledge of Christ outweighs anything that this world could ever give us.
One big thing that I have been learning through reading the Bible is obedience. And not obedience to get something or because you have to. Faithful obedience because you want to. God will not make us obey Him. He has given us free will. Each of us will get to choose when we are and aren’t obedient to the Lord.
The Lord has been teaching me so much! He’s been gently correcting me when I am wrong. He’s been showing me His way is better and should be the way I strive to go.
I hope you guys have been able to get into the Word and are learning!
Hold onto hope and stay strong
Madison Rae <3
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