Preaching the gospel is fun! Standing up and proclaiming God’s Word to five people or 500 people is one of the most exciting things ever! I wish more men (and young men) desired to be preachers!
But, here’s something that I enjoy just as much as standing up and preaching to a bunch of people. I love an opportunity to sit down at a table one-on-one with someone who is not a Christian and open up the Bible with him/her. For some Christians (and some preachers, included), this can be an intimidating experience. But, when you do it, and the more you do it, the more comfortable you will become and the more you will enjoy it, to the point of wanting to do it more and more. Why do I enjoy one-on-one Bible studies with non-Christians so much?
I am always using the same textbook. I’m not a teacher who is handling math, science, history and health textbooks for multiple classes. I walk into a Bible study with one book. It’s the same book for every study and works the same in every study. That makes it easy and fun.
The Bible does not change. In some fields of study, you have to keep up with the latest advancements, the latest findings, the latest updates, the latest amendments, etc. That can be exhausting, and no doubt, you might miss something. When I walk into a Bible study, I have absolute confidence that nothing has changed in the Bible from the last time I opened it. God’s truth “is settled in heaven” (Psa. 119:89), “endures forever” (1 Pet. 1:25) and will not “pass away” (Matt. 24:35).
The Bible is always right. Sometimes people in a study will question what the Bible says. Sometimes they will compare what they have heard from someone else. Sometimes they will even disagree with what the Bible is saying about something. But “none of these things move me,” for “The statutes of the Lord are right” (Psa. 19:8) and His “commandments are righteousness” (Psa. 119:172). It’s always right.
The Bible has all the answers. When I start a study, I know there is always a good chance that someone is going to ask a question for which I don’t have the answer myself. That’s ok. That doesn’t make me nervous, because I know that the Bible has the answers. Sometimes the answer is, “I don’t know, but let’s find out.” Or sometimes the answer is Deuteronomy 29:29, but for those things that are revealed to us, the answer always begins with, “The Scripture says…”
I can rely on the Bible and not me. Bible studies help me to build my faith in the Bible and to “trust in [His] word” (Psa. 119:42), for it will always “lead me in the way everlasting” (Psa. 139:14). [More next week]