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The Truth About Reading Your Bible

I’ll be the first to say it, reading the Bible is hard. It’s something that I neglected to do for a long time. In the earlier days of my walk with Jesus, I didn’t read my Bible primarily because I wasn’t really aware of the benefit that can come from reading scripture. Once I finally did start reading my Bible regularly, it was mostly out of moral obligation because I felt like it was something I was “supposed” to do to be a good Christian. Still, I didn’t really understand what I was reading or what I was meant to get out of it.

Last year, I went through a period where I was disappointed over something that didn’t go my way, and I found myself thinking things like, “Maybe God changed his plan?...” It was at that moment that the Holy Spirit convicted me, and opened my eyes to realize that I had been making lots of overgeneralized assumptions about God’s character that weren’t at all based in scripture. I knew that if I wanted to know God better, I needed to get deeper in the word.

I like to think of the Bible as a love letter from God to us. He gave it to us as a gift to help us know him better and also know how we are meant to walk in his ways. By reading scripture, we have the opportunity to learn from other people’s mistakes and victories. Most importantly, we have the opportunity to understand firsthand the passion of Christ and know just how much he loves us. The world will tell you that the Bible is an ancient document and therefore not applicable to today’s society. The truth is, the word of God is living and active. It is just as applicable today as it was when it was written. The Bible is our sword of the Spirit. It’s how we fight against the tactics of the enemy and have discernment over the intentions of our hearts.

Challenge: Read 1 Timothy 4:6-16. Recognize the value in training yourself for godliness. Continue to do so by spending time in God's word each and every day!