Do you like to read? What are some of your favorite books? I love to read but there is one book that I have been struggling with.
Why do I have to read the Bible?
I have always loved reading. Since I was about eight, I was reading all the time, and even before that my mom was reading to me. Whenever people ask me what my favorite genre is I have a hard time coming up with one because I will read most anything I can get my hands on, especially if it is fiction. There is one book that I have read the most, but I also have the hardest time reading. I am not really the type of person to reread a book. Once I have read it, I’ve read it, and I already know the story and what is going to happen. Recently, I realized that I felt the same way about the Bible.
Growing up in a Christian home my parents were very intentional to teach me the Bible and read it to me from a very early age. In church and Sunday School I was that know it all kid who had memorized all the verses and knew all the answers. I have read through the Bible on my own as I have gotten older, and done plenty of Bible studies, college classes, papers, etc. So lately I have been having a hard time reading the Bible as often as I should because I feel like I already know what’s going to happen. Not that I feel like I know everything there is to know, but I already know the main plot points and the characters and what happens at the end.
I had forgotten that the purpose of reading the Bible isn’t to know the Bible, it’s to know God. We read the Bible to spend time with God, to get to know his character, to obey him. We read the Bible to honor God with our time and with our mind. Reading the Bible is time that we are giving to God, that we have set aside for him. And it means that we are putting aside whatever other voices and influences that we have and are committing to focus on him, his voice, and his words.
“Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” – Romans 15:4
So as we are getting ready for summer, I challenge you, and I challenge myself, to give God that time out of your day. Take whatever next step it is for you, whether that is reading a couple verses, reading a couple more than you have been, spending a couple more minutes in prayer, or making sure you have less distractions. Whatever that next little step is, take it. Honor God with your time. One thing that we see evidently in scripture is that God never fails to use those people that are faithful to him.
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