Public Reading of Scripture

Perhaps you already know verses that speak to this issue:

"...give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhorting, to teaching" Paul to Timothy, 1 Tim. 4.13

In his second letter to Timothy- "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction" 2 Tim. 4.2

The WHY of sharing God's Word with others is obvious- that they might come to genuinely know and follow Jesus Christ as Lord, Savior, Best Friend and continue to grow as His disciples.

Remember -Jesus constantly rebuked "scribes" along with the religious parties of His earthly ministry calling them "hypocrites" (Greek ="actors") even though they constantly worked with and publicly quoted the very Word of God. Why?

It's obviously one thing to know, memorize, quote the Book of God and quite another to live it out in daily private, public and behavioral application, how we treat one another both in the churches and in our relationship to other followers of Jesus with whom we disagree. It's an entirely different matter when it comes to interaction with pre/un-believers and even (note Jesus' command to love) our very enemies!

Remember -quoting God's Word is literally what the devil did in his temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. The devil was/is still the devil.

The spiritual wilderness of this world continues to exist and there are still too many who merely use the Bible as justification for their own personal pursuits and not the furthering of the kingdom of God but instead, their own "kingdom".

Let that sink in or sink in the mire of deception just as many sadly did in the days of the "scribes, pharisees, hypocrites" whom Jesus continually confronted.

As always, thanks for stopping by. -Glenn