I want my Bible class students to get into the habit of reading God’s Word every day.  They have time for sports, movies, computer games, cell phone text messages, TV, and all manner of fun during the week.  They can learn Scripture as well.  If they get into the habit while young, prayerfully, it will be a habit for them throughout life.

There are some rules for Bible study which I plan on teaching them before they leave my class.  I want them to know we study God’s Word to show ourselves approved and be like the Bereans.  The Bereans searched the Scriptures daily.  They had a desire to obey His Word.

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.  Therefore many of them believed:  also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.”    Acts 17:11-12

We must know there is a definite distinction in Scripture between a Christian and a non-Christian, and the difference between the Law of Moses and the Gospel of Christ.

“Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace;  And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.”     Ephesians 2:15-17

Keeping Scripture in context is also important.  Isolating one text from other passages will make us draw wrong conclusions.  I had trouble with this for a time, but now understand the need to place all passages in context.  I had a conversation with a co-worker not long ago; she arbitrarily pulled a passage out of context.  I taught her she couldn’t know the meaning until she took all Scriptures with reference to the subject and placed the verse in context.  This will be a part of my curriculum for my students.  I want them to know this well in advance, for it will certainly help in their teaching others throughout their lives.

Some will say this is much too hard for them, but it isn’t.  They have learned the plan of salvation.  They know where to find the answers for the ups and downs of life.  If they are able to learn tablets, computers, cell phones, and read, they can learn Scripture.

I urge parents to encourage their young children to study God’s Word every day, and without distraction.

Brother J.D. Tant, Texas preacher, once said of a congregation in Golden, Arkansas which had about 30 members, “ten of them were Christians in faith and practice;  the others impressed him as being Christians in faith, but very little practice.”  May this statement never be said of us.

Let us return back to His Word and once again be a people of the Book as the Bereans were.

“My brethren are often condemned for preaching so much in Acts of the Apostles, but this will be our leading book as long as we teach salvation to a dying world; for this is where we find the plan of salvation first taught by the apostles after they had Holy Ghost baptism, which qualified them to preach the Gospel to all the world.  As long as we teach the same things the apostles taught, and beg men and women to do the same things, the apostles taught them to do, we are sure we are teaching the Word of God, and are also sure we will be rewarded for so doing at the last day.  So let all be satisfied with the simple Word of God, to teach and fight it out along that line, knowing, ‘if’ we do this, heaven will be our home.”                  ~ J. D. Tant

Eileen Light