The Curious Questions Of JesusНамуна

Day 6: Haven’t you read the Scriptures?

In today’s reading,  Jesus answers a question with a question as He so often does. “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” He asks. Since it is a group of well-educated Pharisees asking Him the original question, He knows that they have. They ask not because they do not know what is in the Scriptures. They ask because they do not want to live by what it says.

We want answers. Jesus wants us to look beneath our question to its motivation. Too often, the issue is not whether we have read the Bible. The issue is that we do not want to obey it. 

We can think the key to growing in following Jesus is learning more. If your faith in Jesus is brand new, then this can very well be the case. You cannot follow what you do not know. However, for others who have been in the faith longer, we often suffer from “information obesity,” taking in more information from the Scriptures than we are willing to apply.

“Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus’ question implicitly reminds us of the good gift we have in God’s Word. We often don’t have to guess at what God’s will for our lives is. On another occasion the devil tried to tempt Jesus three times. Each time, Jesus quoted the Scriptures. In fact, He reminds us that we do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. 

Discipleship always has a bias to action. When we come to the Scriptures, we must ask ourselves two questions. The first is “What does God’s Word actually say?” We ask this because sometimes we have come to believe things God never said. The second question is “What will I do about what God’s Word says?” If we come to God’s Word ready to learn and then obey, trusting it will be for our good, then we will continually grow as a disciple of Jesus.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for Your Word, the Bible. Thank You that I can understand Your love and will for my life through Your Word. Help me to not only read the Scriptures but have the faith to apply it in my life today. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.