2 Timothy 2:15
The Bible is very clear on it's simplistic path to Salvation by only one way: to Believe On and Trust In, the Lord Jesus as the Risen Christ, your Lord and Savior!
However, we also need to know and/or remind ourselves that, this message and everything else in the bible is and should be treated as: "The Word Of God" or God Breathed and totally divine in it's origin...
...therefore, AFTER we have been saved (Born-Again) and now living and walking in Christ, alive while still on the earth, it would do us well to best learn as much as possible about our Heavenly Father, His character and will for our mortal lives here, on earth and in order to best serve Him by an extensive/exhaustive time spent in His Word.
Please note the phrasing "time spent" and "in HIS word"? If we truly believe that He is the Autor that inspired the men who wrote it, then since he is everlasting so is His word. Time has a beginning and an end, God does not. Neither does His word, so the more we spend in it the more we will come to know Him and be able to best allow His word to sanctify us and transform us BACk into the creation He originally designed us to be.
We READ Books but we should HEAR the Bible. Treating the Bible as a book and the printed words as text no matter how reverent or valuable we feel about it will not give us the divine wisdom of God that He so wants us to have. It will continuously allow our intellectual minds to compete with and sometimes question things that can only be spiritually discerned. John 3:3
He wants to Breathe His words into our hearts and continue to transform us from our sin nature to His divine nature. Romans 12:2 An ongoing process that will never cease to require a constant relationship with him through His word, while we are yet living out our faith in these carnal bodies of flesh.
This was the very thing that Jesus was revealing to one Nicodemus, John 3:3 a Learned Scribe and Pharisee, who was academically adept in the knowledge of the tora or tanak (the Old Testament writings, or scriptures) also God inspired. Nicodemus had a heart for God and wanted to know all he could about him and the promised messiah but just couldn't quite get the full revelation of whether or not this Jesus whom he already confessed must be sent from God, was indeed the long awaited Messiah as promised in the Holy Scriptures.
Much like depending on our own will power to avoid sin, we simply cannot change our nature out of our own will. We must lean on/towards and be led by the Spirit of God to avoid the sins of the flesh. Likewise with studying God's word. Studying is not enough as it may give you head knowledge to retain or express again to others but only by God's Spiritual revelations and continued fellowship with Him, through His word daily, can we keep ourselves operating in His grace.
As soon as we decide to coast or drift into being satisfied with just our eternal future we will inevitably resort back to living and making most all of our daily decisions based on what WE know/knew to do and perform out of our own understanding, instead of His.
(#1 red flag that this may already have happened is: the proverbial excuse that "we just don't have the time")
As People susceptible to influence we tend to gravitate towards others we find acceptable to ourselves and spend the most time with. Spending time in God's word will help us depend less on our own might and more on His.
That cannot be done with just regular church services or even through occasional Bible Study attendance. We must visit and communicate in prayer ( both ways ) by speaking to and hearing back from our Father, be it in the spirit or by His word. The Bible.
Finally, we know that since there is no end to God and His plan for us to live with Him eternally, then we need to understand that likewise there is no end to His word and/or the knowledge of God as well. And, the best way to begin our fellowship with Him now, before we enter His eternal presence is to spend time with Him in his word.
Daily or at least as often as we can.
(#2 red flag that we are not spending enough time in His prayer/bible Study is that: "we save/use more time for earthly pleasures and/or temporal pastimes" that are not going with us into eternity)
So, make a determination to put forth the effort (at any level) to set aside time for spending time wit God in His word (the Bible) be it a group study or solo (both would be best) to at least begin to treat your time studying the bible not just to gain scriptural knowledge, but as to spending time in the presence of the Almighty God through His word.
As time permits...I will be posting some ongoing Bible Study Topics/Teachings in the Bible Study index below to help people initiate and find the right fit and ease of Bible studying.