Before I
went through the furnace, I loved God’s Word.
And I valued it immensely. And at
different times in my life, I would immerse myself in it. But at others, I would realize that I didn’t
take it out for weeks. I knew it was
important . . . I just didn’t live like it was important enough to be read every
day. (I’m just being honest
here.) I was so busy with life that I
convinced myself that it was enough to listen to godly music and read godly
books. Scripture was extra. Beneficial, but not as inspiring as music and
inspirational books. And frankly, it was
so familiar that it was boring and just not doing much for me anymore.
And as far
as prayer was concerned, when I used to have my insomniac-ish nights, I would
lay there and quiet my mind and pray, asking God to speak to me . . . in the
hopes that by silencing my mind, I would actually be able to fall asleep. I didn’t really want to hear from Him. I just wanted sleep.
But now,
after the furnace, the Word has become so alive to me. And prayer has become a life-line - an
intimate, mind-boggling connection to my Heavenly Father. In fact, now I find that I have a hard time
falling asleep because I don’t want to miss anything that He might want to tell
me in the quietness and stillness of my heart and mind. It’s amazing to me that I, a lowly little
worm, could communicate with the God who created the heavens and the earth, and
that He actually wants to hear from me all the time. It’s very humbling.
I have found
a hunger and a thirst for the Word and prayer that I never knew was
possible. The Bible is not just God’s
words to me anymore, but God’s heart being poured out to me. I am overcome with a deep, insatiable hunger
to meet God in His Word and in prayer.
This is the God of the universe, who is available to us and who wants to
meet with us daily.
And we’d
rather be watching television or reading a magazine or sleeping. Mind-blowing!
Now, raise
your hand if you feel like reading the Bible is extra-credit? If it’s something that you do when you need a
boost or want brownie points with God or to get out of a mess? Now . . . honestly . . . how many of you
didn’t put your hands up, but your lifestyle and the Holy Spirit are raising
their hands for you?
During those
times when my Bible sat on the shelf, I was still a “good Christian,” doing the
things that “good Christians” do. I just
didn’t need the Word desperately. I
didn’t meet God in the pages. I read about
Him, but I didn’t read to meet with Him.
It seemed so removed from my time and my life. The Old Testament, in particular, was
boring. This person came from that
person, and that people fought those people, and the Israelites did this wrong
and that wrong and walked around and around and around, blah, blah, blah!
For so long,
I used to read the Old Testament like it was
. . . well . . . history. It was
the story of other people’s - ancient people’s - relationship with God.
But as I
went through the furnace, I began to see myself in the Israelites of the Old
Testament. I began to see the things
that they did wrong and how I do those same things today, in my own way. I am guilty of grumbling about my situation,
just like they did. I am so capable of
forgetting God’s goodness to me and His power and abilities, just like they
did. I have seen the greatness of God in
so many ways, and then I turn around and commit sins against Him, acting as
though He is not really there or does not really care. Just as they did. I have my own idols! Not quite as golden and bovine as they had,
but it still takes my focus off of God.
And then, I
saw how God responded to them and their sins, and I was humbled.
And the New
Testament? Well, the New Testament was
good. I liked the New Testament! Lots of good advice about living and about
pleasing God and information about Jesus and His life. But after being a Christian for over two
decades, it was so familiar that it, too, was boring. It was like staring at the back of my
hand. I had basically lived with it my
whole life, and I couldn’t find any new inspiration in it anymore. All I would have to hear were the first three
words of a passage and I’d be like, “Yeah, yeah, I know that one.” The Bible was not consistently alive to me .
. . yet!
I think in
our day and age of being too familiar and comfortable with God and His Word, we
have lost the sense of awe and fear of God and His Word. It’s too familiar, and we are too
comfortable. We have heard these stories
again and again. And so we take giant
gulps of Scripture without really meditating on it, and we check it off our
list and move on. Or we pick it apart so
that we can piece it back together again in a way we like better, twisting it for
our own ends.
We have lost
the ability to put ourselves into the stories.
To see God for who He really is.
To stand with the Israelites at the foot of the mountain when they
trembled at the powerful voice of God.
We need to
start seeing ourselves in the stories and in the people of the Bible if we are
to learn from them, if we are to understand what God wants us to know through
them and to let it change our lives and our hearts (instead of just educating
our minds).
So many people can know the Bible forward and backward
without ever meeting God there.
And, sadly,
I know lots of people who are in that same place that I’ve been in (and that I
still find myself in from time to time).
They say things like, “Oh, I know I should read my Bible more, but . . . Well, I guess I need to try to
get up earlier or something. It’s just
so hard with my job … or the kids … or whatever.” (And some of these are leaders in the church.)
Or there are
those who don’t even feel the need to read the Bible more. They have the sense that people in general
should read their Bibles more, but they themselves don’t feel convicted
strongly enough to care. “Just enough of
the Bible and of God to get by” is good enough for them. How tragic!
(I mean,
seriously, when a supposedly huge percentage of America’s population calls
themselves “Christian” and we have the kinds of problems and moral-deficiencies
that we do, something major is wrong.
And I think it’s that a huge percentage of the people – of “Christians”
-- don’t care to really know and live what the Bible says.)
I think that
we, as Christians, are missing out on a vibrancy and a passion in our lives and
our walks because we don’t take these two things seriously enough: prayer and
God’s Word. If we are only
half-committed to meeting with God in prayer and His Word, we will have only a
partial relationship with Him. We’ll get
just enough of God to make us feel good, but we will miss out on “great” - on a
vibrant, living relationship with Him.
And we can’t blame Him for that.
We are as close to Him as we work to be.
If we don’t
seek Him wholeheartedly and deliberately and diligently, we will miss out on
the genuine brokenness and humility that come with drawing near to God on this
journey. And while this guidebook may be
a good tool to help us find any hindrances in our walks with Him, the only real
Guide - real Truth - is God’s Word. Do
not go forth in your life or on this journey without it. Do not try to get close to Him through just your
accomplishments and efforts. Get to know
Him as He reveals Himself to be. Through His Word.
Unfortunately,
many of us have scars and fears that put up walls around our hearts to keep
them “safe,” even from God. These stem
from hurts in our past and misconceptions that we developed a long time ago. (Which we will explore later.) But these walls prevent us from trusting
others enough to relax around them, to let them into our hearts and lives. Even with God. They compel us to be nothing less than
completely self-sufficient and in-control, and they cause us to try to earn our
way with others. Even with God. And that prevents our relationship with the
Lord from being all that it should be.
Okay, I am
going to delve in deep and do my best to convince you that time in the Word -
Daily! - is crucial to your spiritual walk.
But I’m sure that there will be some of you that will roll your
eyes. I mean, we’ve all been told over
and over again how important it is to read our Bibles. Blah, blah, blah! Yes, we know the Word is important. We know that we should read it more and that
we should spend daily, quiet time with God.
But . . . we just don’t get around to doing it.
Why is
that? Seriously? What is stopping us from doing what we know
we should do? I think that if we can
pinpoint why we are lazy in this discipline and do away with it, it would free
us up from the false notion that it’s “extra-credit.” So let me start with exploring some reasons
for why we don’t read our Bibles more.
And many of these come from reflecting upon my own reasons or excuses
for letting my Bible sit on a shelf.
(And just so
you know, I don’t always succeed at reading it as much as I wish I did, even
now. It’s a daily journey and battle
sometimes because life is busy. I have
four young children at home, and that is a full-time job in itself. But what’s different now is that I am
convicted when I don’t read it. I feel
like something in my life is missing.
And I seek to rectify it, instead of making up some excuse or
rationalization. And I do have a
passion, a love, and a hunger for the Word that I never did before. I meet God in the pages now, instead of just
reading about Him. And that’s what’s
different about it now.)
See if any of these
reasons for not reading our Bibles resonate with you:
Reason Number 1: I just don’t care. It’s just too old and boring to bother to set
aside the time to dig in deeply. I like
life the way it is, and I’d rather be reading other books, or tinkering around
in my garage or kitchen, or watching television. I just don’t feel like I have to read
it.
(A numb
conscience is a dangerous thing. You are
putting out a “welcome mat” for disaster in your spiritual life.)
Reason Number 2: Scripture is so familiar that I don’t
think I’m missing out on anything by not reading it. It’s old news. I know what it says. I’ve gone through it so many times that I
can’t seem to find any life in it anymore.
(I’m going
to guess that if this is the case, it’s because we are looking at it as a
guidebook, like the instruction manual for a stereo. “Once you’ve read it, you know all you need
to know to make it work.” We value it
only for what we can get out of it. And
we haven’t learned that it is alive and that God speaks through it to us today. And that we actually meet Him and get to know
Him in those pages.)
Reason Number 3: I want to read it more and feel like I
should, but I am so busy. I have my job,
dirty dishes, laundry, school, kids, sports, cooking, etc. I have such little downtime that I can’t add
one more item to my To Do list. And God
understands, right? I mean, doesn’t He
see all the other things that I am doing for Him?
(Face it,
not having time is a choice that we make.
We make time for the things that are important to us. And so I’m going to guess that if this is
your excuse, you haven’t yet learned to see how relevant and soul-satisfying
the Word of God is. You don’t meet the
living God in the pages of the Bible.
They are just words on a page to you.
Good words; but old, familiar words.
You haven’t got to the point where you’ve learned that you need these
words of life because it’s what fills your soul and sustains you throughout
your busy days. You are living a
self-sufficient and self-focused life.)
Reason Number 4: I might be actively or passively avoiding
it because I don’t want to be convicted by anything that it might reveal to
me. I don’t want to be responsible for
what I might uncover, or face the true condition of myself, or see how far
short I fall of His holy standards. I
don’t like to be faced with my failures and shortcomings. I’d rather just close my eyes to it - or
close the Book, as it may be. And so I
avoid reading it or contemplating it too deeply. That way I can get just enough God to feel
good about myself, but not too much that it makes me uncomfortable.
(Closing
your eyes doesn’t change what the Bible says and what God requires of us. And we certainly won’t be able to close our
eyes when we stand before Him and give account for how we lived our
lives.)
Reason Number 5: Hey, I’m doing pretty good on my
own. I’m a good Christian. I serve at church, I say and do the “right”
things, I volunteer, and I sing. I
behave as I should. I know what the
Bible says and I do my best to abide by it.
But I don’t need to really read it daily also, right? Not when I am already following its
principles. What more can reading it do for
me anyway, besides tell me stuff I already know and am doing?
(It’s not
about following the principles of the Bible as much as it is about meeting God
in the pages. And we can so easily get
off track if we are not immersing ourselves in the Word daily. But we won’t even realize it!)
Reason Number 6: It’s just a duty. It’s an item on a To Do list that needs to
get done just so I can check it off. And
so I don’t really see much point to it or much benefit in it. But if this is what God thinks I should do -
for whatever reason - then I guess I’ll try to get around to doing it.
(Uhh . . .
gee . . . thanks, I guess. Mighty big of
you!)
Reason Number 7: I get enough of God through sermons and
Christian music. And my spouse reads it
and tells me what it says. I also read
lots of inspirational books on God and about how other people apply His Word to
their lives. And I get enough from all
of that. I don’t really need to sit down
and read it for myself. It’s much more
exciting when I hear it in music or in a sermon.
(Does God
share this view? Read the Bible and find
out. Yes, it’s great to get His Word in
any and every form, but I think there is something much more powerful about
making it a daily discipline to meet with Him in quiet on your own – in the
Word that HE gave us, not in the words that someone else gives us.)
Reason Number 8: Besides, other civilizations and ancient
people didn’t have the Bible to read.
And they did just fine without it.
If it wasn’t necessary for them, it can’t really be necessary for us,
too.
(It’s here
now. And it must have been written and
preserved for nearly 2,000 years for a reason.
And let’s considered what is happening to our society and our country’s
morality as we get farther and farther away from God’s Word. Is that really what we want?)
Reason Number 9: And on top of that, the Bible doesn’t
command quiet, personal time in the Word, does it? I never read a verse that said, “Thou shalt
spend thirty minutes a day reading this Book.”
Right? So how crucial is it
really when the Bible itself doesn’t say that we “have to read it every day.”
(Really!?! Does the Bible have to say, “Read Me,” for
you to believe that a Book from God is meant to be read? And once again, does God share this
view? Read the Bible and see what God
says about the importance of dwelling on His Word.)
Reason Number 10: You know what, I don’t like to be told
what to do or to be forced to do anything.
Then it’s not really a genuine desire on my part anyway. So I’ll just show you all how good of a
Christian I can be without being forced into your idea of what’s
necessary.
(We don’t
say it out loud, but many of us refuse to do the things that others expect us
to do, just because they expect us to do them.
It’s that old rebellious, prideful spirit.)
Reason Number 11: It’s too hard to understand.
(And it will
continue to be until you read it more.
Pray for the Spirit to open your eyes.)
Reason Number 12: My parents or neighbor or friend used to
use the Bible as a sword to hack others to pieces, or they forced it down my
throat. And so it’s left a bad taste in
my mouth.
(Don’t let your spiritual life suffer
because others misrepresented or “used” God the wrong way. They will be accountable to God for how they
represented Him, but you will be accountable to God for how you respond to and
represent Him.)
Reason Number 13: I want more emotional, dynamic
experiences of God. I want to find Him
in miracles and nature and inside myself, instead of inside some old Book.
(To seek God
only through these kinds of experiences while neglecting the Word can lead to
dangerous places.)
Reason Number 14: I have concerns with what seem like
discrepancies in the Bible. And I don’t
like the hard-to-swallow images of God as being wrathful or killing people.
(The more
you study the history of the Bible, the people of that time, the commentaries,
the Hebrew and Greek meanings of words, the character of God, and the many good
books that deal with the “discrepancies,” the more solid the Bible
becomes. Don’t let this excuse stop you
from digging in deeper. And the more you
come to understand His holiness and justness, the more clearly you will
understand His wrath and judgments. And
the more you read, the more you will see how great His love is.)
Reason Number 15: I’m just plain old
lazy. Self-serving. I’m not known for my self-discipline. And I am entitled to my own happiness, and I
won’t let “shoulds” infringe on that.
(That’s your choice.)
Reason Number 16: Yes, I know I should read more, but . .
.
I think that what
all this comes down to is that we are not passionate about God’s Word because
we are not passionate about God.
We haven’t
yet seen Him for who He really is (as opposed to our own ideas of Him) and we
haven’t yet fallen in love with Him.
Sure, we love Him, but we are not wholeheartedly consumed by Him. Because when we are consumed with someone, we
hang on their every word.
And the only
way to get past this is to confess it to God, to ask the Holy Spirit for help
in understanding God’s Word, and . . . to read it. Read it as though God has something to say to
you personally - about your life - through it. Read it as though He is in the pages, waiting
to speak to you.
The Bible
isn’t about ancient people’s sins from yesteryear; it’s about our sins
today. It’s not about an old-time God;
it’s about the greatness, holiness, and love of the God who lives today. Once we grasp this - once we read the Bible
as relevant and alive - it becomes much more powerful and applicable to our
lives. It is so full of rich life
lessons and so full of the power, glory, mercy, wrath, grace, and love of God -
the God who is the same today as He was then.
And it humbles us, like trembling children at His feet. The fear of God!
Don’t read
because it’s on your To Do list. Read
with expectancy, read to meet God in the pages and to come face to face with
the truth about yourself. Read it to
learn about His holiness, His love, and His goodness. Start wherever you are (or from the beginning)
and read slowly until the Holy Spirit illuminates a verse or passage for you. Write it down and mull over it, asking God to
impress it upon your heart and to tell you what it means for you.
For a time,
it may feel foreign and stiff. But once
you have been humbled before Him, the Bible will pulsate with life and His love
and His holiness and His glory. You will
be convicted that all your excuses were rubbish. And that all your self-righteous efforts to
be that “good Christian” meant nothing because you were not really humbly
connecting with God as He is.
Once you
learn that you meet the living, holy God in the words of His Book, you will not
want to go too long without it. You will
be driven to it. You will discover an
insatiable hunger and thirst for meeting God in the Word and in prayer. You will want to dig deeper to uncover all
the treasures you can find. You will be
driven to find the Bible’s answers to life’s questions. And you will become protective of your time
with Him.
But can’t
we still be good Christians without so much emphasis on the Bible? I mean, other groups don’t have it. How can we claim that it’s crucial?
Well, first of all, those other
people (as well as God) are relying on us (those who have the Word) to get it
to them. What a sad reversal to say that
since they don’t have it, we don’t need it.
No, it should be that since we have it and they don’t, we need to do our
best to get it to them, which includes immersing ourselves in it so that we can
live it and share its truths.
Yes, even
groups of people that don’t have the Word can live God-glorifying lives and can
find salvation, because God has put eternity and the moral code into the hearts
of all people. When we all stand before
God, no one will have an excuse for why they didn’t believe in Him. He makes it possible for all people to come
to Him.
But this
should not stop those of us who have the Word from placing a premium on the
Word. If people who do not have the Word
can live by the moral code that God has placed in their hearts, how much more
should we who have the additional revelations of God in His Word live by what
He has revealed to us? We will all be
accountable, I believe, for what we do with the revelations we have received,
whether natural, heart-felt revelations or scriptural.
But to
answer the first question . . . Yes, you can still be a good Christian without
daily Bible reading.
But is
“good” enough? Are we content with
“good” doctors, “good” school systems, “good” pastors, “good” friendships,
“good” marriages? So why would we think
that God is satisfied with “good” Christians?
We don’t
just want “good” lives, do we? We want
fulfilling, deeply satisfying lives. We
want to be challenged, to reach higher, to become the best version of ourselves
that we can be. We want passion and
vibrancy in life. We want to know that
there is so much more out there than what we face in our day-to-day, monotonous
lives. “Good” is not enough. We want more!
Well, I
think that this is God’s desire, too. He
wants to see us reaching higher and striving more. He wants us to live passionate, vibrant,
wholly-open-to-Him lives. He wants us to
live diligently and earnestly. These are
qualities that He admires, that He desires to see more of in His
followers.
Proverbs
10:4: “Lazy hands make
a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.”
Deuteronomy
6:5: “Love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
. . .”
Colossians
3:23: “Whatever you do,
work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”
And once
again, 1
Corinthians 10:31: “. . . whatever
you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
He’s not
content or satisfied with “good” either.
Because “good” doesn’t do justice for His glory. It isn’t the good, mediocre people that
really inspire others, that create in others a hunger for God and for
righteousness. Our mediocre, lukewarm
attitude toward the Bible and prayer will only produce mediocre, lukewarm
Christians with mediocre, lukewarm influence on others. Is that what we want?
The ones
whose lives really speak about the greatness of knowing God are the ones who
live out of a deep, abiding, passionate relationship with Him, even if
(especially if) their lives are full of pain.
And they don’t even have to be vocal about it or obvious in all the ways
they serve God. Their lives will speak
it. Their humble, sincere, loving hearts
will testify for them.
But this
kind of passionate, powerful witness does not come from lazy disciplines. It does not just happen in us as we go about
our day, letting our Bibles sit in the dust on our shelves and passing up deep
times in prayer. We have to pursue Him
diligently, in prayer and in His Word.
When is the last time that you drank deeply from the Word? That you poured your heart out in
prayer?
You know, I think the only thing Satan considers better
than a non-Christian or a rebellious Christian is a comfortable Christian.
If he can
keep us comfortable, convinced that our current efforts are “good enough” and
that God is pleased with our service, then he can keep us from a closer
relationship with God and from having a powerful impact on God’s kingdom. He can keep us from the conviction and the
healing and the passion that would set our hearts free and create in us a deep,
insatiable fire to see God glorified above all else. We can’t be passionate for His glory if we
are not passionate about Him. And our
disciplines of prayer and Bible reading will tell us more about the true
condition of our hearts than will our service and our good, Christian talk.
I know that
there are those who will disagree, thinking “I am doing just fine without
daily reading and constant prayer!”
And I’m sure that you are . . . doing just fine! I myself would have been miffed, too, at this
kind of hoity-toity, holier-than-thou point of view just a few years ago,
before the furnace and before being broken.
But I can’t pamper those kinds of self-satisfying, self-comforting notions
anymore. And I think it needs to be
shared that God’s Word - the foundation of our faith and all that we are -
places a much greater premium on God’s Word and prayer than we do.
But I do
so much for Him, you might be thinking.
He knows how much I sacrifice my time for Him. It just keeps me so busy.
If He has
our hearts, no matter what service we do - singing, volunteering, changing
diapers, doing dishes - we will be bringing Him glory. But if He doesn’t have our hearts, then no
matter how brilliant and sacrificial our “service” for God is, our service will
really be for us. It is self-glorifying
and it’s to help us earn points with God, to buy His love and favor.
If we are
not intimately connected with God through prayer and His Word, then our service
is not really for Him. If we are singing
or leading or teaching or serving without a diligent passion for the Word and
for prayer, then I would hazard a guess that we are singing and leading and
teaching and serving for ourselves, even if we think we are doing it for Him. We cannot glorify God with our service if we
do not consider Him important enough to meet with daily, if we do not care
enough about what He has to say to us to put aside the necessary time to
listen.
Humans are
incredibly capable of self-deception, of convincing ourselves that we are doing
okay on our own or on our current path.
This is why the Word is so crucial, not just extra. The Word is the only, absolute Truth that
there is. And yet so many of us put it
aside thinking that we have a pretty good handle on life. (And look at the moral confusion it is
causing nowadays. Even whole churches
don’t seem to know what the Bible really says about things.)
But if we
are not in the Word, we are nibbling our way lost and growing content with
being off-track. The Word is what calls
us back to the right path. The Word is
what will convict us of areas that need to be addressed, that will show us the
higher and more righteous way to live, and that will train our hearts and minds
in Truth. Without regular use of it, you
can bet that you are off-track. But you
won’t know it. Is ignorance really
bliss?
He doesn’t
really want our service if He doesn’t have our hearts. And I think that we oftentimes give Him our
service to cover up for our lack of heart.
But it only fools ourselves and others (some of the time). It doesn’t fool Him! And until we face this in ourselves and admit
to it honestly and seek to change it, we will be living mediocre, lukewarm
lives. And we will deceive ourselves
into believing that we are doing “good” enough.
But, Oh, the
vibrant life that we could have! The
life that comes with digging deeply into the Word and treasuring all of the
jewels of wisdom that it has to share.
The life that comes with meeting God in the pages and in prayer, and
humbling ourselves before Him by uncovering our hearts in transparency and
allowing His Spirit to convict, heal, comfort, inspire, and empower our
spirits. Oh, the powerful witness that
we could have for His kingdom and His glory . . . if only. If only we would learn to value the Word and
prayer as much as God does.
Challenge:
Make a
commitment to meet with God through prayer and the Word daily. Set aside a certain amount of time daily and
keep it for at least one month and see how your life changes. Read it to meet God in it, not just to check
it off your To Do list. Read it with
these questions as filters: What does it teach me about God today? What does it teach me about myself
today? And how can I apply it to my
life?
I, for one, think it’s best to read in
the morning, before your day begins.
It’s kinda like tithing. God asks
for the first-fruits, the best of what you have. And so it makes sense to give Him the
first-fruits of our day, too; the best time, when we are fresh and receptive
and not busy with the next task at hand.
And I think this is a general teaching in the Bible, too.
Psalm
5:3: “In the morning,
O Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait
in expectation.”
Mark
1:35: “Very early in
the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off
to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
This is not
a hard and fast rule, because there is no one right way to meet with God. We should be connecting with Him all day,
actually. But when it comes to a
set-aside Bible and prayer time, I think it’s best to give Him the best part of
our day. Not when we are exhausted or
distracted, but when we can really dig in deep to His Word and spend quality
time in prayer.
And there
are those whose best time may be in the evening or over lunch break. (But if you’re one of those who does it at
the end of the day and you find yourself falling asleep during prayer or Bible
reading … then stop doing it at the end
of the day. It’s not your best
time. Do it in the morning.)
The point
is, meet God in the Word and in prayer daily.
Make it a priority. The Bible is
God’s absolute Truth, the revealed wisdom and Will and guidebook of God.
Here is a
challenge, if you really think that you are too busy to read the Bible: Take stock of your day and see how many
wasted moments there are. Moments that
you are waiting in line or on the train or in the car (as a passenger, of
course.) Could you bring a pocket Bible
with you to read during these times? (Maybe
have a passage written on a notecard that you carry around with you.)
Or think
about all the time you spend doing worthless, unproductive, and possibly
unglorifying things. Give serious
thought to how you spend your time. What
TV shows do you watch? What books or
magazines do you read? What kind of
web-surfing or on-line stuff do you do?
How about hobbies? Would a little
of that time be better spent in the Word?
Do you know
that if you watch a one-hour television show every day for a year, you’ve just
spent 21,900 minutes filling your head with unnecessary, temporary (most likely
unglorifying) stuff? But setting aside
fifteen minutes every day to read the Bible is too much for your schedule? In one year, that would be just 5,475
minutes. 5,475 minutes out of 525,600
minutes for an entire year. Replace one
half-hour show (or a half-hour on the phone or computer) with the Bible and you
would be spending 10,950 minutes a year getting to know God. I can’t think of a better use of nearly
11,000 minutes! 11,000 minutes investing
in your relationship with God!
Questions for Reflection:
1.
Finish this sentence: “To me, the
Bible is . . .” (Be honest. And keep answering it until you’ve said all
you have to say about it.)
2.
What does my life and the way I “walk” say about my view of the
Bible? Would other people think that the
Bible (and that God) was really important to me if they saw how I lived,
talked, and spent my time? What
specifically shows that I value it and live it out, and what shows that I
don’t?
3.
How often do I read it?
4.
Do I read it because I have to, because I want to, or because I hunger
for it? Why do I read it? What do I get out reading it?
5.
What are my past or earliest experiences with the Bible? How have they shaped me?
6.
How do my views about the Bible differ from God’s view of the Word? (Look up verses to see what God says about
His Word. Or maybe read chapter 21 in my life-story called “Digging Deep” in Child
of Mine at https://sweetlybrokengirl.blogspot.com.)
7.
What is my “best time” to be in the Word? Could I commit to reading it daily?
8.
Is God convicting me about anything in this area? Are there any changes I need to make? Will I do what He’s asking me to do?
Prayer and Bible Work:
In prayer,
admit to God your current attitude toward the Bible and your current Bible-reading
habits if they are not good. Confess
shortcomings and doubts when you need to, and ask for the Holy Spirit’s help to
make the Word “living and active” for you.
Then do a
study and compile all the verse you can find on the importance of God’s
Word. Write them down and go through
each one, praying that the Holy Spirit gives you insight about what it should
mean to you. (Or read “Chapter 21: Digging Deep” in Child of Mine.)
Here are some verses to start with:
(And, of course, I’m going to have you look them up yourself.)
Psalm 1:2
Psalm 119
Deuteronomy 4:29
2 Timothy 2:15, 3:16, 4:1-4
Hebrews 4:12, 5:14
