Nine Postures towards Your Bible

Introduction

I have read a book recently by Matt Smethurst entitled, Before You Open Your Bible. In this book, he provides nine postures to approach God’s word.

What does our world think about the Bible?

Explanation

We approach the Bible prayerfully.

Psalm 119:36 “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!”

Often, prayer relieves a cold and dead heart.

We approach the Bible humbly.

Isaiah 66:2 “All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

We approach the Bible desperately.

Jeremiah 15:16 “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.”

Do you count God’s word as more important than daily food?

Smethurst made an observation - The world is like cheese puffs, and the Word of God is like steak. We can spend all of our time eating cheese puffs.

We approach the Bible studiously.

We are called to love the Lord with our heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Mind is important. Get the study notes. Do the Bible study. We must exercise our minds.

We approach the Bible obediently.

What does a child get - who knows all of the rules but refuses to obey? Punished.

Because it is worse to disobey when you know the rules than to disobey when you don’t know the rules.

We spend so much of our time studying the rules, and we cannot grasp the fact that God keeps us in his care.

We approach the Bible joyfully.

We approach the Bible expectantly.

We approach the Bible communally.

We approach the Bible Christocentrically.