Since the day Scriptures entered my life, I have learnt and still learning from the powerful words in the Bible which are not men's words but God's words. Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 15:4, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” The Bible is for our learning. Learning means receiving instruction, teaching and doctrine. That is why we have the Bible written in a language which we can understand, that we may learn from what is written inside.

For Apostle Paul, what he had was the Old Testament Bible, and it was not even in his hand. He had to go to the Jewish synagogue if he wants to study the Bible. Copies were limited, not all the synagogues had the complete OT Scriptures. They were in the form of parchment and scrolls, very bulky and impossible to carry around. And also in those days, no one was able to own a copy. But today, we can have more than one Bible in our possession, Bibles with all the 66 books, both Old and New. And we can also have the electronic Bible in our handphones and computers. So privileged and convenient than in the past! But the Bible is written for us not for entertainment or to add to the reservoir of books found in the whole world. The Bible is written for our learning. Everything in the Bible was recorded for our learning.

Learning is part of us from the day we are born to the day we die. Some people believe that learning starts as soon as one is conceived in his mother's womb. Some parents therefore would talk to their baby who is still inside the womb, play music, read the Bible or story books, sing lullaby and so on as if the baby is born already. And after the baby is born, the learning process continues. The baby learns how to drink, eat, play, stand, walk, talk, read, cycle, etc. Indeed life is full of learning. However, the greatest learning of all is that which is above and out of this world. The moment we are saved, our sins forgiven, the way we learn changed. Our perspective changed. Expectations also changed. Attitude changed. Desire also changed. All because the Scriptures are now found in our life. Scriptures and me; Scriptures and you. Whether strong in faith or weak in faith, we continue to learn from the Scriptures.

Learning is part and parcel of life, and for believers, there is an end to our learning, and this is what Apostle Paul was referring to when he said, “... that through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” This hope is Christ. True life is with Him. The world cannot give us this life. The source of life is Christ and not only that, He gives us meaning in the present life which leads to everlasting life. That is our hope. When we look at life from man's perspective, no matter what the world offers us, we know that ours is a

dying body, and one day it will breathe its last breath. Money cannot buy us another second of life. Once it is time to go, we have to go. However when we look at life from God's perspective, it is full of hope. Christ gives us this hope of everlasting life. It is through the scriptures we know that we will one day rise from the dead and be given a glorified body that will never die again. This is our hope. We are still learning more and more of this hope according to the Scriptures. Let us not stop learning so that through patience and comfort of the scriptures we will one day see this hope in Christ be fulfilled in us. May God help us. Amen.