Session 11: Section 1

Motivation in reading the Bible

We cannot compel you to read your Bible. We can give you all kinds of tips, but the motivation must come from you. The Bible says a lot about motivation.

Consider the incident where Joshua gave his final message to the people. In that speech he tried to motivate them and he did so by giving them a choice.

Joshua spelt out the choice: serve either the God of Israel or the gods of the surrounding nations.

When the Law of Moses was given to Israel, they were promised blessings if they obeyed, and cursing if they disobeyed.

The real choice was between life or death.

You can see this motivation expressed even more clearly by the apostle Peter:

Here some of Jesus’ followers were deserting him. Jesus asked the twelve disciples if they were also going to leave him. Peter then said why he was determined not to leave. "To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life". Peter knew of no-one else who could tell him about a better and more lasting life than the one which Jesus was talking about. As far as Peter was concerned, there were big issues at stake here!

The same issues face everyone; "What happens to us when we die?" should be a question everyone wants answered. We have tried to show that the Bible provides evidence to show that it comes from God. That being so, we should trust it when it talks about this vital issue of life and death. This should motivate us to read and understand the Bible.

We are going to look at what the Bible says about life and death.

Where did life come from?

These verses say that life came from God and is sustained by Him.

Where did death come from?

The first man and woman did not keep the command that God gave them. The result of this was the death sentence. (If you want to read the whole story, read Genesis chapters 2 and 3.)

Death was to be the punishment for this rebellion against God.

Everyone has this same rebellious streak, so everyone dies.

What happens at death?

What does the Bible say about death?

Very simply, if God removes His power and the breath of life, people return to the dust. In the Bible, death is often referred to as ‘falling asleep’. It is an "echo" which often occurs.

What happens after death?

The Bible clearly tells us that there is something beyond death.

The subject of life and death is summed up in the letter to the Romans:

Death is like sleep - the person is totally unconscious. But God has a plan which can involve waking dead people out of that sleep.

What greater motivation could we need to look at and understand this book - the Bible!

Optional Assignment 15

Life and Death

Look up the references we have mentioned and write in your own words what they are saying. If you have a Bible with cross-references, write down what you learn from these.