Penetrating Questions from George Eddy - Part II

September 19, 2008 – 4:26 pm

Question Two: Am I a constructive Bible student?

Not, do I talk about it to others? Not, Am I in some circle or class? Am I a constructive [italics his] Bible-student? What is that Book to me? Does the letter kill, or the Spirit give life? Is that Book somehow dead and dry, or is it to me a very fountain of living waters? Loss of appetite is a symptom of ill-health. If I am wrong with God I shall not love His Word. Do I get a fresh blessing, fresh manna, fresh life every day? Do I come to meet the living Word, or is it a dead letter because my heart is dead? If I do not love that Book today, it is because I did not obey it yesterday; because I did not walk in the light when God gave it. What is that Book to me? Am I mining for truth, sending deep shafts down into this mine of God’s Word? Am I learning the truth that shall make me free? As I passed down through India I saw two little rice fields side by side. One was green and growing; the other was dead and dry. I looked for the cause. The great lake was full of water. There was no lack there. Into the one the living water was flowing, for the channel was open. The other was choked. Brother, is your life green and growing, fruitful and joyful, or barren and dry because the channel is choked? Harnack tells us that “Jesus lived and had His being in the sacred Scriptures.” Do you and I? What is that Book to you? Am I a constructive Bible-student, or have I neglected that Book?

See Penetrating Questions I for the context of these questions.

The above excerpt is derived from the volume Students and the Present Missionary Crisis, which is the complete record of all messages delivered at the 1910 SVM Rochester Convention. The volume is public domain. The book can be viewed online.