Pentecost – Day 6 (30 June)
God’s Spirit brings hope through his Word
Se(di)ngolwa (t)sa Bibele
BAROMA 15
Molaetsa o molemo ke wa Bajuda le baditjhaba
No one can live without hope. The Bible teaches us that God is the source of all hope, alive within us, and we get to know God through the Bible. It reminds us of where our hope comes from. So, when we use the Bible for this purpose, we must seek and find in it the hope that God wants to give us through his Word.
According to the scripture passage, hope is the result of two important lessons we learn from the Bible. The first is steadfastness – to keep believing and trusting in God, despite your circumstances. When we read the Bible, we find numerous examples of people who are suffering. If there is some kind of suffering in our lives, we should not see it as a punishment from the Lord. It is part of our lives as children of God. Suffering can go away, but there is always hope.
The second lesson we learn from the Bible is encouragement – the Bible is also the instrument by which God wants to give us strength to get through the difficult times in life. The mistake that many people make when they are facing problems, is to stop reading the Bible or going to church. However, it is important to read God’s Word at such times and draw from it the power that God wants to give us.
The Bible is not meant to be a book full of rules and laws to discourage us. God does not want to impose further guilt on us through the Bible. Jesus Christ came to free us from guilt and show us that God is a God of love and grace, who forgives us. This image of God is prominent in the Bible.
