What's the purpose?

I'm slowing working my way through the book Short Stories by Jesus by Amy-Jill Levine.  Slowly, not because of the quality of the book - it's wonderful - but because I only read about 10 minutes a day from it.  It is my morning devotional reading. 

Anyway, I found this gem last week:

She is quoting the Apocryphal  book, Fourth Maccabees.  Eliezer the lawyer is speaking, and he says that the Torah has invaluable merit: it "teaches us self-control, so that we master all pleasures and desire, and it also trains us in courage, so that we endure any suffering willingly; it instructs us in justice, so that in all our dealings we act impartially, and it teaches us piety, so that with proper reverence we worship the only living God (5.23-24).

You may agree or disagree with Eliezer.  This is, after all, his view of the purpose of the Torah (what we consider the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (aka for us, the Old Testament).  But the question is a good one.  What is the purpose of the Bible for you?  I don't mean why it exists - I mean, what purpose does it serve in your life? What difference does it make in the way you live, the courage you demonstrate, the fairness you offer, and your relationship with God?