Do You Love the Bible?

This morning in my personal time of Bible study and prayer I was reading from Colossians. I love reading the Scriptures and letting God preach to me. I fill up on His Word daily. I always read with a notebook and pen handy because I'm constantly writing down things that God is both revealing about me and revealing about our world and circumstances in general.

This morning I was just struck by two particular pieces of the Scripture I read. I read Colossians 1:1-14

* The first thing that caused me to stop and take notice was an often skipped and ignored section of this passage. In vs. 7 Paul is talking about how the church in Colossae had learned from Epaphras. Then Paul gives this description of Epaphras: He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf. When I read that I just paused and wondered to myself, "How great would it be that my legacy when all is said and done would be these words: He is a faithful minister of Christ? That is a legacy worth having and one that Epaphras has forever been remember by.

* The second thing that caused me to stop and erupt into praise of God was and is vs. 13-14. It reads, "13He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." The thing that overwhelmed me was the phrase: He has delivered us. He did it. It is author of our salvation. He is the one that has delivered us from darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his Son. Through the Son, Jesus, we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. I don't know about you, but I'm eternally grateful for a God that has provided, offered, and granted me forgiveness of my sin.

I'm a man who can live with gratitude today because I'm a man of freedom and hope because of Jesus. I love the Bible. I love that I can hear the words of God to me anytime I choose to open the Scriptures. I'm grateful that God preaches to us every moment we approach him with ears to hear and hearts to receive.

Question for Discussion: How often do you get into the Bible to read it and allow God to speak to you? What are some of the study techniques you use?