Some people see the Bible as just a book of rules and regulations that God has given to keep us in line. They perceive God as a bully looking down from heaven with a big stick ready to punish anyone who disobeys. How mistaken they are!

Listen to this verse in the Bible that lets us see what God is really like: “Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!” (Deuteronomy 5:29).

Did you notice the longing in God’s heart “that it might go well with [us] and [our] children forever”? He wants us to obey Him because that’s the best possible way we can live.

The Bible is like the instruction book that comes with a new camera.  You can take pictures without reading the instructions.  But you’ll never get the quality of pictures the camera was designed to produce until you read the instructions and operate the camera at its ultimate potential.

That’s what God wants for us—our ultimate potential.  And we’ll achieve that when we live according to the way the divine Designer has instructed us.

He knows that we don’t do well when we’re under stress.  So, He tells us to cast our cares on the Lord (Psalm 55:22). He knows if we feed our minds on books and movies that encourage a lifestyle contrary to the Bible, we will not find the joy that we were intended to have. So, He tells us, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure…think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8).

God wants the very best for us. Out of His heart of love He has given us the Bible—so that we’ll know how best to live. Keep that in mind as you read it.