Life's How-To Manual

Have you ever had a friend come to you and ask you for advice?  You take the time to listen to the problem, and then sagely offer your input and guidance, feeling confident that you helped a friend in need?  Only to later learn that your friend not only didn’t take your advice, but they outright ignored it or asked someone else their opinion!  Feel insulted much??
Imagine how our Heavenly Father must feel.
He gave us 1 Bible that is comprised of 66 books, 1189 chapters, and 31,102 verses — all designed to help us live our lives.
Yet, more often than not, we do our own thing.  (I often wonder if God has a brick wall in heaven that He occasionally beats His head against.  It’s GOT to be frustrating for Him.)
King David wrote Psalm 119 and in it, he says:

Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.  ~Psalm 119:105

In other words, God’s word is the light from which we find our way…  like a flashlight, it illuminates the road ahead, so we can make wise choices, avoid danger, turn to safety and security.  It’s in the pages of the Bible that we find the path to salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior!
God didn’t inspire 40 men to write the Bible just for the fun of it.  The Bible is a gift!  It’s how God tells us how to live our lives!
On occasion, you hear people say, “Life doesn’t come with a how-to manual.”  Yes, it does!  Ironically, there are over 100 million Bibles sold each year and while the exact number is impossible to know, it’s estimated that there are 5 BILLION copies of it on this planet.  Imagine.  FIVE BILLION COPIES OF THE BIBLE.
Consider these verses:

Every word of God is pure;
He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.  ~Proverbs 30:5
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  ~Hebrews 4:12
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,  ~2 Timothy 3:16

And we wish life had a how-to manual??? Turn to the word of God.  And as I wrote about in my very first blog, it’s timeless.
On a personal note, I own five Bibles, including the very first one that was given to me in 1975, when I was only a few months old.  It has taken me over 41 years to get started reading it.  As I type this blog, I’m almost halfway through the Bible.  And never, ever, until this year, have I understood the truth behind what I’m typing.  That the Bible is truly life’s how-to manual.
It’s not enough for us to say, “I’m a Christian.”  We HAVE to read the word of God every day.  Not just at church on Sundays.  Every.  Single.  Day.  It is the critical component to having a relationship with God (it’s how we get to know Him!)  And, the Bible gets us through all of life challenges.  All of them.  Every.  Single.  One.  Of them.  There is NOTHING that life can throw at you that the Bible can’t handle.
When I finish reading the Bible next summer…  when I can say in truth that I have read every word of the Bible, do you want to know what I’m going to do next?
I’m going to read it again.  And after I read it a second time, I’m going to read it a third.  Then a fourth.  And again after that.  Reading the Bible is the very first thing I do every day.  And it’s a habit I plan to take with me until I draw my final breath on this earth.
Everything I need to know about how to live life can be found in this 1 Bible God gave us… these 66 books, 1189 chapters, and 31,102 verses.  This is how God talks to me, and it’s how He will talk to you.
There’s a lot about this day and age we can complain about…  the morality of the world is in decay…  sin is rampant (and really makes me wonder how bad Sodom and Gomorrah must have been…but I digress)…  But one positive thing I can say about being a Christian in this day and time — the online resources for the Bible are extraordinary.  We can literally access the Bible anywhere.
Another verse in Psalm 119 says:

Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.  ~Psalm 119:11

I won’t lie to you — I’m terrible at memorization and always have been, so memorizing God’s word has never been easy for me.  But I love that we have the technology that I don’t even have to have my Bible with me to read it or find a particular verse.  I can pull it up on my app.  Moreover, I can search “Bible verse about” and name a topic, and I get lists of verses to explore and read.  PLUS, the more I read the Bible, and the more familiar I get with it, the more it sticks with me.  I may not be able to quote it word for word, but the message from God is imprinted on my heart.
Five Bibles and access to Google — that’s a powerful combination in the hands of a Christian determined to live by God’s way!
After 40-some years of seeking the advice of others and trying to navigate this life on my own, I finally picked up the how-to manual that’s been on my shelf the whole time.  I encourage you to do the same.  I promise, you won’t be disappointed.  In fact, the more you read, the more you’ll want.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of Your word.  You didn’t just create us and set us loose without any idea of what to do or how to do it…  You gave us the Bible which is the how-to manual to live life by Your holy standards.  Thank You for loving us so much that You give us Your timeless wisdom and guidance to get us through any and all of life’s challenges.  There is no problem too big or too small — Your word can handle it all.  The Bible wasn’t written for only one generation or culture, but was written for all of us.  Thank You for communicating with us through the Bible and all Your many blessings!  

Resources:
Reference.com • GuinessWorldRecords.com