Read Your Bible

Every Scripture has been inspired by Holy Spirit, the breath of God. It will empower you by its instruction and correction, giving you the strength to take the right direction and lead you deeper into the path of godliness. Then you will be God’s servant, fully mature and perfectly prepared to fulfill any assignment God gives you.  2 Timothy 3:16-17 TPT

I love the Bible. It is the primary way God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. It’s the vehicle He uses to tell us who He is and to explain His heart, mind, character, nature, and will. I’ve heard it said before that when you engage with Scripture, not only are you reading the Bible, but the Bible is reading you! That’s why Hebrews 4:12 (NIV) tells us, "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

Over and over, Jesus tells us if we know Him then we know God and have seen God. And the primary way we get to know Jesus is through the Bible. It’s His powerful, authoritative, enlightening, and life-changing self-expression. It’s the very breath of God on each page! 

2 Timothy 3:16–17 declares, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 

In the same way that spending time and communicating with my husband Mike is essential for me to know him, so it is with the Bible as it pertains to knowing the Lord! 

My friends, without true devotion to the Bible, we will quickly lose sight of the true, genuine Gospel of Jesus Christ! Without hiding His Word in our hearts, we won’t be able to recognize His voice when He speaks!

It’s truly a remarkable thing, a bewildering gift from the Lord, that we even have a Bible we can read whenever we want! It’s a blessing beyond my ability to express it to you.  

Can you imagine! that for almost all of human history, dating back to the Old Testament and through most of church history up until a few centuries ago, and even today in many places around the world, Christians have not had their own personal copies of the Bible. 

They had to come together to hear someone read it to them. Some didn’t have a copy to read, but had to recite it from their memories: rabbis, scholars, priests, and Pharisees would literally memorize the first five books of the Bible! It really puts Paul’s instruction to “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture” into perspective, doesn’t it? Because the public reading of Scripture was all most believers had since the dawn of the Church!

1 Timothy 4:12-13 TPT And don’t be intimidated by those who are older than you; simply be the example they need to see by being faithful and true in all that you do. Speak the truth and live a life of purity and authentic love as you remain strong in your faith. So until I come, be diligent in devouring the Word of God, be faithful in prayer, and in teaching the believers.

And now, here we are today in the year of our Lord 2021, and we have printed Bibles and Bible apps at our fingertips. In fact, many of us have various Bibles in our homes and maybe even one or two different Bible translations on our phones and computers.  

Read your Bible . . . I bet you were expecting some other grand revelation or profound piece of advice. It sounds too simple, right? Here’s the thing: it is simple . . . and it should be! It’s simple but significant, and it needs to be said. Read your Bible!  

First, let me explain there’s a difference between reading and studying the Bible. The goal of studying the Bible is to dive in deep, examine context, search for deeper revelation, identify what the Lord is specifically saying to you, and find distinct personal application. It should go without saying just how important this is as we seek to understand and apply God’s will to our lives and grow more and more like Jesus. We’ll learn more about studying the Bible in the coming days.

But remember too that The goal behind reading the Bible is to consume big chunks of the Bible, a few chapters at a time—for practicality, let’s say three chapters per day—in order to consume the entirety of the Bible a few times in your life. Why? Because when we do this, we are allowing the entirety of God’s work of redemption to pass before our eyes, enter into our minds, and permeate our hearts.