My 9th grade Algebra teacher was one of the neatest ladies I have ever met. She had a different outfit for every day of the school year, she genuinely cared about students, and she loved math with a passion. She loved math so much that she almost made me love it to (I say “almost” because I still hate it, but I did come close to changing my mind because of her).
Her name was Mrs. Chiado.
Being a great teacher is a gift…it is a gift that scripture itself has. Scripture is what we call DIDACTIC. Meaning, it was intended for instruction and that itself instructs. This is why Hebrews 4:12 reminds us that For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The words of God are alive, and being alive it can teach us on a continual basis.
Scripture covers almost every topic we can think of, and those we can’t. It is never static or frozen, it is always moving in the direction of the glory of God; yet so many people who claim to be Christians never pick it up except on a Sunday morning.
I believe part of this reason is that many people fail to understand what scripture is intended to do (hence these last 3 weeks of blogs). Some people never read it…but others, and this may get me in trouble, read it too much. Yes, some people read it so much that they never DO what it actually says. Scripture is not about how much you can get through, it is about how much gets INTO you.
So please, pick it up, read it for all it’s worth. You will come to love it and love Jesus more. Get a good bible commentary and a good theology book to go along with it (I would recommend Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology). You will begin to see the scriptures come alive.
And might I even say scripture is a better teacher than Mrs. Chiado, because it made me love it and Jesus more than I can ever explain.