All we Christians rightly believe that the Bible is the word of God. That is why we daily endeavor to read portions of it. Now, in order to benefit from the Bible, we shouldn’t simply read it; we must study it. More so, that studying must commence with the first five books of Moses which are collectively called the Torah in Hebrew, what we commonly refer to as The Law.

There is absolutely no way we are going to understand and benefit from the Bible if we do not study the Torah which contains the foundational principles of the rest of the Bible, including the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Generally speaking, Ugandan Christians are lazy and like shortcuts when it comes to almost everything. We want to pay the least possible for anything, however precious. The word ‘effort’ is foreign to our vocabulary; we have actually demonized it as self-righteousness. This attitude is better exemplified when it comes to reading and studying. We are generally averse to those two things. Few Ugandans (including Christians) buy books to enrich their knowledge; that is why it is a rarity to find a Ugandan reading a book. It is no wonder that we have very few bookstores and the Christian ones that open up are forced to shut down shortly thereafter for lack of customers.

Sadly, this terrible culture has affected our understanding of the Word of God. We only open our Bibles when we have either been coerced to do so by a preacher or as a kind of appeasement to God. And on those rare occasions when we open the Bible, we simply flip through the pages – never actually studying the content. Even when we flip through the Bible, we more or less go for the easy-to-read books. For example, we have an unwritten rule that Leviticus is a no go area because it is impossible (apparently) to make sense of all the rituals and regulations therein. When we make a mistake and open Deuteronomy, we quickly run to chapter 28 to remind our greedy minds of our blessings. In fact, we are advised to ignore verse 1 of that chapter that calls for obedience to God and not to go past verse 14. Why? Apparently because Jesus obeyed for us and therefore God no longer visits terrible repercussions on the disobedient. As for the book of Numbers, we see it as a complete waste of time instead of re-reading our blessings in Deuteronomy 28:2-14.

If we Christians are going to know and profit from the Bible – a book that was written for our benefit – we must “de-Ugandanize” ourselves by shunning laziness and falling in love with reading and studying. This means that we should do the hard work of studying the Bible including The Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). We shall never really appreciate how much God values holiness and detests sin if we do not take time to study Leviticus. At the same time, we will never really understand how much Jesus loved us when He offered Himself on our behalf as the atoning and purifying sacrifice unless Leviticus is studied. And, we shall never really make spiritual meaning of the life and teachings of Jesus, Paul, John, Peter, James, and Jude if we lack the foundational understanding of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Jesus and all those writers were Jews, conversant with the constitution of their nation Israel, which constitution was The Law that they diligently observed as a culture. Therefore, we must read their teachings with the lenses of The Torah if we are really serious about understanding and profiting from the Bible. The Torah – the Law – is indispensable for all those who want to love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. Jesus who was God-incarnate said that those who love Him will obey His commandments (John 14:15). Question: Which commandments and where are they found? Answer: God’s commandments to be obeyed are first contained in the Torah.

By the way, a person cannot really have genuine faith in Jesus’ words and promises if they do not know and believe the Law of Moses (John 5:46-47). The Church in general has in its perspective done a good job in teaching Christians to lightly esteem the Law because we erroneously affirm that it was abolished. It is for that reason that we are so immature and continually fall for false doctrines and false prophets. This has been the painful price for not studying the elementary, basic, and foundational books of the Word of God – The Law. Hopefully, this will change with you and me.

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

All Scripture (Torah + Prophets + Writings) is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).

God bless you.