Last month we began to look at the ‘Means of Grace’; i.e. the things through which God continues to pour out his grace into his people. After looking more deeply at prayer, this week I want to discuss reading the Bible.
Like prayer, many Christians believe that if they are not reading the Bible regularly, they’re failing in their Christian duty. While there is some truth to this, God did not give us the Bible primarily as a duty we must perform to please him. He gave us the Bible to PLEASE US.
The reason many Christians lose sight of this is because they see the Bible primarily as a list of rules God’s people are called to follow. While the Bible is written FOR Christians – showing us how to respond to our loving saviour – it is not written ABOUT Christians. The Bible is first and foremost ABOUT GOD! It is God revealing his glory (i.e. his power, beauty and grace) to his beloved creatures. This means there is a big difference between coming to the Bible looking for something to do, as opposed to coming to the Bible looking for something to see and feel.
When Christians realise this, it changes our perspective on reading the Bible each day. If we understand that the Bible contains more beauty and wonder and joy than things like TV, or hobbies, or sex, we WILL make time for the Bible. Humans will always make time for that which we enjoy.
So how do we do this? Well like prayer, reading the Bible is about enjoying our relationship with God. So we must pray for the Spirit’s power (Eph 3:14-19) to help us enjoy God, and his word.
Brendan McLaughlin
