There’s no other book in antiquity, or the world for that matter, like the bible. A collection of books in a single volume, written in three different languages on three different continents over the course of hundreds of years by dozens of different authors holding dozens of stations and under a plethora of different circumstances. Yet for all of that, based on both the external and internal evidence, it agrees with its self in every point.
It is the self revelation of God, the exposure of the Son of God and the disclosure of who the believer is in Christ. It convicts, afflicts, corrects, rebukes, encourages, edifies, leads and makes one wise. Through this book we learn who God is, why Jesus came, who we are, what we can do and who our enemy is and what he cannot do.
Despite the fact that the Bible is of the utmost of importance in the life of a believer there are many who have never read it through, others still that neglect it’s gems and glorious instructions through the week and reach only for it so that they might take it with them to Sunday service. Sadly others still that look upon its pages in an effort to find justification for wrong, revenge or personal gain.
If we’re to be a “Bible Believing Church” we should seek to encourage those around us to believe what they read rather than simply reading what they believe or neglecting the book entirely. It was R.C. Sproul that said;
“We fail in our duty to study God's Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy."
Upon first hearing that quote, I was cut to the quick. I was guilty of neglecting my duty to both read and study the scriptures in a manner that was befitting to them. I thought back to “year one” of my actually preaching the word. There were many times that I would only read the Word of God as a minister. I would read it with a pitchfork rather than with a rake; always searching for something for someone else rather than for myself. Much has changed in the 13 years since then. Most notably a great change in the form of a challenge came to me in the month of May of this year.
It is said that the average American reads 250 words per minute. Taking that figure and applying it to your average sized bible and reading the scripture (not the commentary if there would be any) you would be able to ingest 10 pages in roughly an hour, possibly more. At 10 pages per day, no more than an hour’s reading, you would finish the entire Word from cover to cover in 178 days or roughly 26 weeks. Applying the figures, you would read through the entire bible twice in one year. If you so desired, at 10 pages per day you would finish the entire New Testament in only 28-30 days; meaning that you could read through it once a month for the entire year.
I didn’t believe it, so I tried it. I set out to read 10 pages a day. On some good days I would read further but I always stuck with at least 10 pages per day. As such, I finished in 73 days. I don’t say that to my boast, I say it to prove to you that it’s possible. I’m going to continue the habit.
Jesus condemned the Pharisees for not knowing the word or the power of the word. I don’t want to fall into that category. People have said that with reading and not taking notes or studying you won’t retain anything; that you’re reading just to be reading it. I would beg to differ because there has been much that I’ve retained. As such, I’ve learned to enjoy what I understand and then lean on the Spirit of God to light upon what I do not on the next time around.
I said all of that to encourage you to invest time in the Word of God. We waste so much time on things that do not matter, things that will yield no return on our time investment and things that spend more time that we intended to give and yet we neglect on of the most important thing of all. Reading will give you a fuller picture of God, magnify Jesus, enrich worship, yield powerful prayer and feed your spirit. So, you read all of this, these words of someone who is dust and air and will vanish like the flowers of the field, why not turn your attention and affection towards words that yield life and sanctify? Blessings!
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