A question I recently have pondered is how can people label themselves as a ‘MATURE’ Christian and not be reading their Bible.
The Bible is the bread of life, the authoritative Word of God. We can’t simply choose when to pick it up and read it and when to set it down for months at a time. Yes, months at a time and even up to a year is what I am hearing from Christians as I travel the U.S. These are leaders, volunteers, evangelists and some of them the very people that are teaching and instructing our youth, but not in the Word themselves.
I am continually surprised by the number of Christians I speak to that are not reading their Bibles. The excuses are just that, excuses! I invite them to think about how much they read in a day. You read the newspaper, magazine headlines as you stand in the grocery checkout, the texts on your phone and Yahoo news every time you fire up the internet which is several times a day.
Your favorite book is often read before your Bible and devotions at the breakfast table are often counted as Bible reading and are being used as a substitute to truly get into the Word of God. God never meant for devotions and Christian books to be a substitute to the Word of God. They are supposed to enhance it, co-labor with it.
In the day of Internet mania our social media posts could be the only Bible someone reads. How concerning is that? The Bible instructs us in end times many false teachers will arise and lead us astray. How easily we can be led astray if we are relying on social media to be the only Bible we read. How do we know the Scripture was typed right or interpreted correctly?
Bible reading is imperative. We are so entirely blessed that we live in the U.S., a country where we can freely open our Bibles every day and read the written Word of God. Yet so many Christians seldom open up the Word of God. Is the Bible always easy to understand? No, it’s not. However, as a believer desiring to live a life worthy of the King we must attempt to read the Word of God. To make no attempt to read what the Holy Spirit has inspired to be put on paper is simply complacency and laziness. The devil loves it when Christians are complacent and lazy.
I know there are days that the excuse is that we are too busy to read our Bibles, but really, were we too busy to eat, go to the bathroom, brush our teeth, comb our hair and shower? It needs to be a priority and a desire. If it is not a desire why not pray and ask the Heavenly Father to make it a desire, to stir up the desire within you.
What we do in a day is where our heart is or is not. It is our choice. Did you have time to check email, social media, but cannot check the Word of God? It is all a choice. The choice I want to make is to follow God. To saturate my soul and spirit with the authoritative Word of God every chance I get. Why not make that Bible app on your phone a priority?
To read and understand the Bible takes effort, but we studied for a college exam and we research on the Internet what is important to us. What can be more important than taking in the Word of God? When we studied for college we got out our books laid them out on the table and studied and cross referenced. We too must cross reference our Bibles.
We must study, dig in deep and pull the understanding out of it. A great way to do this is by trying a new or different Bible or have two or three together side by side. I love the new MEV Bible by Charisma. It takes something you have read several times before and makes it come to life inside of you, it really brings the meaning and interpretation home to you. We can’t simply read the Bible to gain understanding, we must study it!
If people are going to rely on you and social media to get their word do you have enough in you to sustain them? If all our Bibles and phone apps were taken away or if you were stranded on an island do you have enough of the Word of God in you to sustain you?
When are we going to start living the very Bible we read and when are we going to make reading it a priority? Times are coming to a close quickly where Jesus will be returning. Darkness is invading the earth and we need to know what the Word of God says to live in these perilous times. We need to know what it says about false teachers, righteous living and everything else. We need to rely on the Holy Spirit to be our teacher and instructor.
The Bible is full of hope for your situation, answers to your problems, comfort for your broken lonely heart. What is holding you back from making Bible reading a priority in your life? Whatever is holding you back, realize it’s an excuse.
You make time for what is important to you. Today I pray you will make time to read your Bible and then go out and apply it to your circumstance. You just may discover you are on the way to the victory that you had been hoping for.
Kathy DeGraw is the founder of DeGraw Ministries a ministry releasing the love and power of God. She is a prophetic deliverance minister who travels hosting conferences, teaching schools and evangelistic love tours. Kathy enjoys writing and is the author of several books that educate, empower and equip people. For more information visit www.degrawministries.org
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