Reading Your Bible

I wrote most of this around the end of October, but the Lord confirmed the writing during the sermon from today, “When I Am Weak, Then I Am Strong.” As I’m reading John 15, verse 5, I’m reminded of the sermon my pastor preached on Sunday about our identity being in Christ. When we are saved, we accept our identity is in Jesus and what He did at the cross, we are baptized into Him and become one, and that we can do nothing a part from Him, especially produce good fruit. I couldn’t help but think of the ones who don’t know Christ and those who have had a bad experience with Christianity and church and those who fight so hard for their denomination or religion when God didn’t mean for us to have all these different sections of Christianity. I have heard so many give up on reading the Bible or even beliefs because they struggle reading or have heard wrong interpretation or had scripture used to hurt them. I have been on the end of these scenarios, though not as bad as some people, and I thank God my heart stayed drawn to the Lord and never stopped looking for truth despite my hurts and difficulty giving up. But I say this to say, I get it. I’m with you. And it shatters my heart to see people walk away from their faith or settle for a water downed version of the Gospel that is false. Remember, false happens because it has a little bit of truth in order to deceive you.

A little embarrassed to admit this, but I have never read the whole Bible straight through nor have I read it in order until this past year. John is the last book I have of making it through the entire New Testament straight. I’m still making my way through the Old Testament because I made the New a priority and felt led to do so (especially since we are in the time of the New Covenant) and I’m not always successful at getting my reading in. I’m human. I have a thousand things to do every day and a lot of times I am the only one doing them and sometimes I go to bed before reading or I do something not so helpful like scroll social media instead, not proud of that either but it’s the truth. The Lord had to work some religion out of me to not get caught up in failing to read. However, when you want to be close to the Lord and/or have a relationship with Him, you should be reading more often than not and you actually want to read it because it’s one way we communicate and spend time with the Lord. Reading every day won’t earn you anything but reading should be a priority.

Through reading the New Testament in it’s whole and reading the Old Testament at the same time, I began to realize and know just how important it is for Christians to read and know the Bible. I think of how many years I wasted not reading my Bible and how much further in my walk and closer I could be to the Lord. So many times people take verses out of context or don’t take their original meaning into account and often use it to make their case, but it is not about us, it is about what God wants, the revelation He gives and what He meant for us when reading the scripture. “Let scripture interpret scripture.” This is what causes a lot of unnecessary back and forth, false doctrine and teachers, and religious denominations.

Man is flawed and fails and is often evil or sinful with his desires, but God is not. I’ve read books of the Bible over and over and I’ve read some in order but I’ve really just picked and chosen what I wanted to read over the years and memorized verses at Church and Awanas as a child. That was the extent of Bible reading. I focused more on devotionals and I would read passages that were listed with the devotionals. I knew core truths and the foundation of Christianity and I knew the whole Bible was connected and believed this, but I did not see how fulfilling and how life giving and changing it can be when you fully read the Bible for yourself with dependence of revelation from God and not what you interpret. Every verse truly is like a bite of food, sometimes a verse is a whole meal, spiritually speaking, but every situation, every doubt, every negative thought, every problem, every success, everything for this life is answered in the Bible and it is the spiritual food we need for this life.

But you can’t just go read the Bible, I mean you can, but your heart needs to be in the right place. Many will read the Bible just to read it or to argue against it and will never have any revelation from God or grow spiritually because their motive was wrong or their heart was hard. God can do anything though, and even ones that have had wrong motives or were lost have been changed through the reading of scripture. I will always say read your Bible, or go buy one and read no matter where you are in your life and walk with Christ, no matter what you believe. Even if you don’t understand, don’t stop reading, don’t give up, the Lord will open up the Word to you.

I just wonder what life would look like if every person read the Bible for themselves with guidance from the Lord, and we sought His revelation and not what we understand in our own knowledge, carnal ideas, and desires. What would happen if Christians picked up the Bible and read for themselves instead of just taking what others give them? What would happen if Christians spent time reading the Bible instead of engaging in activities of the world and activities that feed our flesh or own desires (they don’t have to be “bad” to be a distraction or feed our flesh). If we recognized that our identify is in Christ and we are not our own. That we need the Lord in every minute of this life and with every step and every decision we make. What would happen? I can imagine there would be a lot more peace, love, and freedom and a lot less bickering, discrimination, and violence, just to name a few.

We weren’t meant to do this life without Christ and even the ones who may know Christ for salvation may not know Him for victory over the flesh and sin and depend on him for decision making and everything else in their lives. But I know, as many others do, the Lord can do it all and will if you let Him. Our culture in America is very independent and self-reliant which is opposite of what the Lord wants. We were not made to be independent of Christ and dependent on our own strength. We were meant to be dependent on Christ, for everything. When we break it down to the foundation, we either accept Christ as the sacrifice for our sin and meeter (I know, the grammar) of all our needs and Lord of our lives, or we don’t. There can be no in-between, you are at risk of losing your soul as a lukewarm Christian (see Revelation 3 for back up, this is a whole other discussion).

Looking back over my years, no matter what season or where I was in my knowledge of the Lord, the Bible has always offered comfort and has convicted me or taught me. I remember reading some translations and felt like I was reading a foreign language i.e the KJV, which now is all I read. I often have to read the same verse over and over again to focus or to truly understand what God is teaching and saying to me. No matter what chapter or book I’m in, the Lord always speaks to me through scripture for the season I am in. If I realize I’m struggling or getting distracted I ask the Lord for help in that moment, and He always makes a way. Sometimes I do end up having to go to sleep because I waited too late to start my reading. When I do read, I always get up comforted, or repenting because I was wrong or realized something was sin or where I knew something was sin that I was continuing to do or accepting and the Lord called me out again, or I am renewed and encouraged with fresh revelation, being reminded of His promises, or I receive confirmation or answered prayers. I always learn something new. You cannot exhaust scripture.

I hope this encourages someone to keep reading, keep seeking the Lord or to open up your Bible that may have a little more dust on it than you want to admit. The Lord is the answer for what you are seeking and there is an abundant life waiting when you place your Faith in Christ and what He did for us at Calvary. Depend on Him, we cannot do it all, nor were we meant to.