I began to read and appreciate the Yoruba and Igbo bibles when I realised that going as far as Greek and Latin looked like having "spirikoko trust issues".
You really dont have to carry the dead sea scrolls to understand basic biblical concepts.
A lot has been done and handed to us already. Bible in languages, on devices, easy to scroll and search indexes, voice bibles apps, AI activated bible apps.
Some well meaning people even went as far as creating movie scenes and contextually relatable stories the present world can grasp.
Yet the only thing that can never be done for you is for you to pick up your bible, study/listen/read it, obey and pray with it for yourself. Even if a bible chip was plugged to your head, your choice to use it would still be paramount.
What's your excuse for not reading the bible?
Whatever it is.
You can change it.
It's really not just the poor reading culture from home.
It's the alternative we fill up our mind and time with.
What you allow to entertain you eventually controls you.
Wine intoxicates, it's easier to follow the swagger when it kicks in.
You can't serve two masters. Hence the future parents who don't learn the way now would have none to train their children in. It takes who knows the way to train another in the way they should go.
I have two questions
If bible study and prayers were not that important, why are they so hard?
Why is Satan so invested in fghting your desire for the word?
He brings all the lusts and distractions to your face and banks on every wind to catch your attention away.
Studying the bible is our sacred rites. It is not to be second guessed or rescheduled for when there is a game of bible recitations. Blankly Memorising verses without understanding is a waste of time. It carries no power.
What really matters is the revelation behind every scripture and that is only supplied by the author, The HolyGhost into your Spirit.
Hence bible study is not just reading, it is waiting on the Spirit, it is being humble not to think you know what you re reading, it is training your mind to be focused and your body to resist being distracted, it is fixing a time and clearing up your schedule, it is turning off your business line and social media gadgets, it is the honor you give to the Word Himself.
I have nothing against going for Greek and Hebrew or Aramaic meaning of words. I do that very often too. But perhaps we pay closer attention home to how much effort has been put in place for God to become and man, speak Aramaic, which was converted to Greek, English and to Tiv or Hausa or any other Nigerian nation's language. Having to go through the rigor just to sound spooky and stud is not what bible study is for. The real aim of bible study is to grant the HolyGhost something to work with in your heart. A foothold, a foundation, an anchor in your heart, strengthened by meditation.
The bible is God's word, inspired by God and written to convey God's message. Every story, law, context and character in it are all God moving men to display his ways to us and to speak to us.
From Adam's Eve to Hosea's Ashewo, to David's agbere, to Ruth's gumbody, and the starring of the Bright and Morning Star Himself, Jesus Christ, they are all there for us to learn and grow on a daily basis.
A rich man's 2 requests
Have you heard the story of the Rabbi in the new Testament? He told a story of a certain rich man and a begger named Lazarus. Lazarus was a sick beggar always eating from the crumps and discharge of the rich man. One day after they both died, the Begger went to Abraham's bossom, while the rich man went to hell who when he looks up, he sees Lazarus far up he made his first request.
He begs for Abraham's permission to let the beggar dip his hands in water and let a drop fall to him to quench his thirst. Surely he would oblige because I did the same thing for him on earth, or so he must have thought. What he failed to consider was the huge canyon between them, which made that impossible.
He then realises his folly and how he wasted his life, and suddenly comes up with another request.
"Please send Lazarus back to the world to warn my brothers so they won't end up here". What an evangelistic idea. To think that God would love for that to happen. But sadly put, he had something much better. Abraham replied the rich man in hell, "they have Moses and the prophets".
Today, no one needs to come from a 9 days excursion to heaven or a 3 days visit to hell to come and tell us heaven and hell is real. Jesus has done both and they are all written in the bible. This generation does not need another sign, what remains is that the trumpet should sound and the Lord shall appear in the sky for the harvest of saints.
Our own Moses and the Prophets are in the bible, your bible and it has all commandment and warning there. You don't need a spooky gesture, the bible trumps all of them.
The authority of scriptures stands above all else, it can not be broken.
Even if an angel fell from heaven to spread a new gospel, we will still carry our Bibles to check it and woe betides the angel.
God is the author of the bible, and he defends it everyday. Some claim it was corrupted, but they don't even know what it says. Yet God speaks to Nations through it times and again, with signs and wonders following.
Read your bible.
Pray and obey.
