Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ! With the updated website comes more opportunities to connect with everyone electronically. This is my page and at this point I envision using it in a variety of ways during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Whether it be in the form of articles, videos, or links to good resources, I pray that God will use this page to encourage, challenge, and strengthen you in your faith!
This article is the first of a series where I want to focus on ways we can prioritize our time in order to thrive spiritually in these uncertain times. Let’s face it, on any given day we go through a rollercoaster of emotions as the quarantine, the news cycles, and the responsibilities of life keep coming as we come to terms with a new “normal” during this pandemic. In order to be faithful during these challenging times it is essential that we are growing in our relationship with God. Trials often reveal the genuineness of our faith and they also provide opportunity for us to draw nearer to God in faith. This is what we must be doing now brothers and sisters. We have been under quarantine for about a month now and I am sure you have learned that even with more time at home it is easy to fill that time with all types of activities. Some of you have been “quarancleaning” and tackling projects that you’ve put off for months. Others may be learning a skill or taking up a new hobby. Some have made a ministry of staying in contact with and encouraging others. Some are watching more movies, playing video games, reading more books, and while these things can all be good uses of our time there is one area that we cannot neglect as followers of Christ. Yet I would bet (were I a betting man) that the majority of believers continue to neglect spiritual disciplines that would aid their spiritual growth. Today I want to briefly touch on one of those disciplines: reading the Bible every day.
Why should I read the Bible on a daily basis? The answer to this one is simple, yesterday we celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord. Jesus died and rose again for the purpose of reconciling us to God. Being brought into a right relationship with God is the aim of the Gospel so we would do well to get to know and accurately worship the God to whom we’ve been restored! We often forget that we are not the center of the universe and personal comfort is NOT our greatest goal in life. We were created to find our delight and significance in God and He has been kind enough to reveal Himself to us through His word. It only makes sense that we should prioritize reading what He has said! So let’s consider how we should approach our bible reading and study:
- Be reverent in your approach to the Bible. Bible reading is not something you are just checking off a “to do” list, the Bible is God’s Word. Inspired by His Spirit, the writers of the books of the Bible wrote what God wanted written concerning Himself, mankind, sin, the way of salvation, the church, how He should be worshipped, and even what is to come (and much more!). Approach the Bible as one who needs God even more than you need your next meal. Ask God for help in waking up and being clearheaded, and to make you sensitive to His Spirit’s work in your heart and mind as you read.
- Be wise in how you read the Bible. Passages of scripture must be understood in the context in which they are found. We must seek to understand the author’s intent in order to accurately understand the passage we are reading. Sadly, many people treat the Bible like a mystic recipe book where they swoop in to find a verse or two that may address something they are dealing with or give a sense of spiritual connectedness with God while paying no attention to how those verses fit within the context of the chapter and even the book in which they are found. While you might get it “right” every now and again this type of practice is no way to understand the Bible or the God who gave it to us. As you read, work your way through entire books at a time (not necessarily in one sitting but over the course of your study) seeking to understand the flow of the book and what issues the author is addressing. I’m sure I will write more on how to study the Bible soon so I’ll leave you with one word as I wrap up this point: CONTEXT! Context is key to biblical understanding and spiritual development in reading God’s Word.
- Be consistent in your Bible reading. I’ll be honest here, consistency can be more difficult at times than keeping the context in mind as you read and study. Consistency keeps the truths we are learning fresh in our minds and helps them make their way into our hearts. We develop consistency by setting apart time every day in our schedules that we guard for the purpose of Bible reading, prayer, and private worship. You will not find consistency without prioritizing your daily devotional time.
- Be prayerful, thanking God for what you’ve read. Ask Him for help in applying it to your life and to make you sensitive to others who may need to hear the same truths lovingly presented by you. I will tackle prayer more in depth in a later article but I would encourage you to make prayer a consistent response to the reading of God’s word.
I have already written much more than I intended to so I’ll close with this reminder. It is a great privilege to have access to God’s word. Through the Bible we truly have the opportunity to know exactly what God wants us to know about Himself, how we should live in light of who He is and what He has done, what we should love in light of what He says is lovely, and so on. We miss out when we fail to come to His word in faith seeking to know Him more fully!
