Dear friends,
I just love baptisms! What a blessing it was this past Sunday to baptize four adult converts from China into the way of Jesus!
I had the privilege to meet with each of them the week prior to talk about baptism. I asked each of them why they wanted to be baptized, and all four of them had pretty similar answers. What struck me most, however, was that 100% of them talked about how important reading and learning the Bible (and reading and learning the Bible in community!) was in their journey towards Jesus. For each of them, the Scripture was a central piece of their story.
It reminded me (and encouraged me!) to make sure that the Bible – reading it, studying it, learning it, knowing it, applying it, getting caught up in it – has a preeminent place in my personal life with God, that I’m getting into the Bible every day, and that the Bible is getting into me every day.
I had a mentor who used to say that Christian discipleship is really pretty straightforward: “read the Bible and do what it says.” While that may be a bit of an oversimplification, I’m not sure that it’s really very far off the mark. After all, the Bible is the primary way God speaks to us today!
Friends, it will be awfully hard for you to grow in Christ-likeness without getting into the Bible and getting the Bible into you. After all: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (1 Tim. 3:16-17).
If you’re not sure where to start, email me – I LOVE talking about the Bible. If you don’t have one, bring one home with you from the back of a pew on Sunday morning, write your name in it, start reading, and find someone to talk to about it. The Holy Spirit does something in us when making the Bible a priority. Don’t miss it!
Your brother in Christ,
Mike+ Seawright