September 2008 Newsletter


“READ THE MANUAL”

By: Gene Scantlin


Have you ever purchased a toy, a piece of furniture, etc. that stated “some assembly required”? If you have, did you try to assemble it without reading the instruction manual? Even with the manual, because it’s pictures only or written in difficult to understand terms, it’s not always a simple task. Sometimes it takes reading a particular step multiple times to fully comprehend what is being said. More than once I’ve tried to complete the assembly without completely reading the instructions only to find myself frustrated and usually taking something back apart because I had not read the instructions and was trying to assemble something on my own instead of following the creators instructions. If the instructions aren’t read and followed, what you are trying to put together isn’t going to work properly.

I heard an interesting acrostic for BIBLE the other day. BIBLE stands for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. The BIBLE is our instruction manual for life on this earth and also instructions on how to attain life after this earth, and there is life beyond what we have here.

The instruction manual (the Bible) in the Old Testament tells us of how God’s chosen people were blessed when they followed His instructions and how those blessings were withdrawn when they did not follow his instructions. The Gospels tell us of the life of and experiences of Jesus and how he worked in the lives of those who obeyed His instructions. The book of Acts tells us how the church began and how to become a part of it. We must follow the instructions in order to do this. The rest of the New Testament gives us instructions on how we are to live our lives as individuals and also collectively as the church. There are instructions on how to deal with problems and overcome tempting situations. We can find instructions on how to deal with every facet of life, any situation we might be confronted with.

We’ve never been promised a smooth road but we have been given the instructions on how to deal with the rough spots. BUT we have to read the manual so we know the instructions when we face these situations properly.

How often do you read, study, the manual? We study together collectively as the church every Sunday morning and night and also on Wednesday night. ARE YOU THERE TO STUDY THE MANUAL? Even this isn’t enough. We all have Bibles in our homes available 24-7. How often do you pick it up for instruction? In order to complete this life successfully (meaning properly prepared for the next) we MUST READ THE MANUAL. If you don’t you are most likely going to fail and what a tragedy that would be because you were too busy or stubborn to read the instruction manual.