I was recently chatting with one of my brothers in Church before Sunday service. We were talking about the impact of the Church should have in the society. He mentioned something that caught my attention. He had come across someone in a town where he had gone on holiday. As he chatted with her, the discussion moved to belief in God. At this point, the woman commented, “I don’t really care about God”. He then asked her whether she knew what the Bible stood for. She said no. Then he told her, “The Bible stands for ’Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth’”, That got the woman’s attention! She had never heard that phrase before and to be honest, neither had I until that moment.
Since that chat, I have been thinking about that phrase and the more I thought about it, the more I believe it to be true. Jesus confirmed the importance of scriptures while he walked the face of the earth. When the Jewish leaders began persecuting Jesus and questioning His authority, He replied, “_You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life._” (John 5:39-40)
It is ironic that those who claimed to be the custodians of the scripture and who were expected to teach the people the letter of Jewish law, had no idea that the one who inspired the scriptures, the one around whom the scriptures revolved, was the one standing before them. Only if they had known! They were so blinded by their own religion that they failed to see the one who was the fulfilment of the promises they had read about and were waiting for!
In Paul’s letter to Timothy, he encouraged the young man to read the scriptures,. “You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:15)
He followed this up by making the profound statement, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work_.” (2 Timothy 3:16)
That is a loaded statement! It talks about the source of the Holy Scriptures - God. It talks about the purpose as well as the benefits of the scriptures. It is loaded with instructions and examples to help us as we navigate our way through life.
Whenever you find yourself at the crossroads of life, seek inspiration from the Bible. It is filled with wisdom because it is inspired by the only wise God who is always willing and ready to give wisdom to all those who ask for it (James 1:5)
Steve Popoola is the editor of Biblepraise Newsletter and the founder of the Biblepraise Fellowship Online at http://www.biblepraise.org. He lives in Kent, United Kingdom, where he works as an IT Professional. He currently serves as a Worship Leader as well as Home Group Leader in his local church and on occasion, speaks at invited events. He is the founder of the BiblepraiseFellowship Online Ministry and Moderator/Editor of the Biblepraise Newsletter. He can be reached through His email address, steve@biblepraise.org
