What the Bible Can and Cannot Give You

Jesus challenged how the religious folks looked at the Bible. They went to it looking for answers. They wanted to know what was right and wrong. They were hoping it would provide them a way to heaven. They needed it to build their religious systems. They wanted it to provide culture.

I think we can all relate to those things, and none of them are inherently wrong.

It’s just that Jesus says those longings, while not bad, are misplaced if we go to the Bible with them. Jesus puts it to the religious leaders this way:

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. - John 5:39-40

How about you? Why do you go to the scriptures? Do they help you find Jesus - and life in Christ?