Christian Growth toward the Great Commission: Bible Reading
“I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from The Savior of the world is communicated to us through this Book.”
― Abraham Lincoln
In my list of Spiritual Disciplines from my last post, the first on the list is Bible Reading. Reading the Bible and getting time in God’s word daily is a must if you want to grow spiritually. While we don’t want to be legalistic about Bible reading, since adherence to Spiritual Disciplines is not a salvation issue, if you want to know Jesus better, God has given us, in written form, the perfect way to study what it means to know Jesus and know what He’s asking us to do. In addition, as it relates to the Great Commission and our involvement, growing spiritually makes us want to be more involved. So, here’s three reasons you should read the Bible everyday:
1. It will help you know God better
Being a follower of Jesus is about being friends with Jesus. It constitutes a real relationship just like the one you have with your best friend or spouse. In all relationships we talk and we listen to each other. And this is what reading the Bible and praying is all about.
When we read the Bible, we are listening to what God has to say to us (except it is written down like in a letter). In the Bible, God has made sure he has told us everything we need to know in order to be the best of friends with him. So when you pray and read, you are really having a good old conversation with God and that is definitely something worth doing every day!
2. It will help you know what God is asking you to do
When we read the Bible daily, we can begin to stop doing the things God doesn’t want us to do and start becoming more like Jesus everyday, which should be the goal of every Christian. A couple of good examples:
In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul gives us instruction on fleeing sexual immorality In 1 Timothy 6, Paul is instructing us to flee the love of money, but to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love steadfastness and gentleness. The Bible is chock full of instruction for our lives, and what types of things we should and should not be doing. You only learn these things by knowing God’s word and reading it daily.
3. It will change your life
One of my favorite passages of scripture is 2 Timothy 3:16-17:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
It’s a fact that if we want to live in line with who God wants us to be, we need to have a regular time in His word. As Paul wrote to Timothy, through God’s word we will be taught, rebuked, corrected and trained in righteousness. For what purpose? So that we will be equipped to go out and do good work for Jesus. And as we do that, God can use us to change other’s lives too.
One final note that I tell everyone I can: Routine is your friend! I’ve often found it easier to keep a regular routine when it comes to Bible reading. If you can find the same time every day, in the same place, I have found that to be so helpful. For example, I work from home and in the division of domestic duties with my wife, I take our kids to school every morning. As soon as that’s done, I sit in my big brown recliner and have my prayer and Bible Reading. It’s at about the same time every day in the same big brown chair.
May I encourage you to discipline yourself to get time every day in God’s word! You’ll be glad you did! How has daily time in God’s word benefited you in your life?