I need to read the Bible more. The Bible is important. The Bible is meant to be read. The Bible. The Bible. The Bible. I really should be reading the Bible more.
Why aren’t I reading the Bible more?
I’ll be honest. I’m struggling. As much as I used to enjoy reading the Bible, lately I haven’t even been trying. I don’t even know why. I just haven’t for the past few weeks for some reason.
Back in middle school, when I was starting to find my identity in Christ, I sat down one day and decided I was going to read the Bible in just one year. I was so motivated that my mom ended up joining me too. In just that first sitting on the first day, I got through the entire Book of Genesis, maybe even Exodus too. I can’t remember exactly, but it was more than just a verse or chapter.
I remember running up to my mom in complete awe. “I didn’t know this!” “Did you know that?” “Why did this happen?” “I want to know more about this!” “I forgot about that!” Etc.
That first year of reading the Bible, from cover to cover, was one of the few times in my life when I’ve felt closest to God. Truthfully, I felt I understood so much more than I had ever understood before about Him.
For a while after, I didn’t want to lose the feeling and I kept up the Bible reading. Once I got a smartphone, I used a Bible app that reminded me to read every day and I did. It was great!
Eventually, daily turned to every other day, which turned to weekly, which turned to every other week, etc. Sometimes, I couldn’t remember the last time I even sat down to read the Bible and that’s pretty sad.
That’s where I am now.
I’ve been sitting here, trying to figure out why I’ve been slowly inching myself away from this beautiful book always sitting at my desk, asking me to gently pick it up, place it in my lap, and flip through its wondrous pages.
Why aren’t I reading the Bible more?
There are two answers I’ve come up with. The first one is that since I have read the entire Bible, maybe I think there’s nothing new to learn from it. This isn’t true, though. Every time I read the Bible I’ve learned something new from it.
Just because I’ve read the whole Bible, doesn’t mean I understand every single lesson from it. Sometimes I read late at night and didn’t fully comprehend the point of what I was reading, but when I read it later, more awake, I understood it perfectly. Sometimes I couldn’t understand because I hadn’t gone through what the verse was talking about, but when I read it after going through the situation, I understood completely.
There’s always something new to learn from the Bible.
The second reason is that if there is always something new to learn from the Bible, maybe I’m afraid to learn what that is. I admit it, sometimes I feel like I do understand everything from the Bible. I’ve just learned and understood so much from the Bible already that I don’t want to learn and understand anything else. I don’t want to learn that I haven’t understood something completely. I don’t want to learn anything new.
It’s important to keep learning, though. The more I learn, the more I understand, and the better a Christian I can be. I need to stop thinking that the Bible is only for those that have to learn from it because I haven’t finished learning from it myself. I never will.
There’s always something new for me to learn from the Bible.
As a writer, I really should have some more respect for the Bible. I mean, I want to write a book someday and here I have the most famous book in the world right in front of me!
I definitely want to read the Bible more.
So, here’s what I’m going to do after this. I’m going to take this beautiful book, sit in my comfy chair and just read. I’m going to flip the pages and let God’s word fill my eyes, ears and mind. For just a few minutes, I’m going to forget any reasons that have taken me away lately and off will go my computer, TV, radio, etc.
It’s going to be just me and my Bible.
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