Terry Joe Kee
From my earliest memories of the church and worship services, I am reminded of the need to respect the Bible. I remember as a child going with my family to Newbern, Tennessee and assembling with the church there. The class I was in used a little card which had a picture on one side and a Bible story on the other. I do not remember who the teacher was but I remember the importance given to the Word of God.
As a teenager I studied in a Bible class taught by those who loved the Bible and encouraged us as students to study. I remember his instructions to put our lesson book in a place where we would know where it was and to bring it to class with us. We were never encouraged to bring that book without our Bibles.
As I remember those preachers I heard as a young man, I am reminded of godly men who respected the Bible and encouraged every member to study it daily. I learned not to put the words of man above the Word of God (cf. 1 Cor. 4:6). My plea for folks not to take my word, but to search the scriptures to see if the truth is being taught, is what I have been taught from my childhood. Our faith is not to stand in the wisdom of man, but in the Word of God (1 Cor. 2:1-5).
The Bible is worthy of daily study and meditation (2 Tim. 2:15; Psa. 1:1-3). It is the Word of God that must light our path and be a lamp to our feet (Psa. 119:105). God’s Word is His instrument to reprove, rebuke, and exhort us (2 Tim. 4:2). It is this inspired volume which is given by God for teaching, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16). Only by the Word of God can we be made perfect or complete (2 Tim. 3:17). Only with this Book of books can we know Jesus (John 5:39). These things were written that we might believe in Jesus as God’s Son (John 20:30,31). Without this Word, there is no faith (Rom. 10:17) and therefore we cannot please God (Heb. 11:6).
Since the Bible is so precious, and without it we have no direction and therefore no hope, we must not put it up on a shelf. We cannot live without it. It must be preached and lived. How can we bring a neighbor to Christ, without how to live without the Word? What hope do you have without the Word of God? How do you know of God’s grace without the Word of His grace? The Word of God is what has made us who we are and it is what will carry us home.
