Why Read the Bible?
The Christian walk is a journey of lifelong growth that seeks to become more conformed to the image of Christ. As we continue to grow in Christ, we will desire less of worldly things and more of Jesus. It is not always easy to grow as a Christian, however. Our flesh will fight us every step of the way, and as Jeremiah 17:9 reminds us, our hearts are deceitful and are desperately sick. So many things in life will distract us and pull us away from Jesus. If we wish to grow in Christ while avoiding the distractions of the world, it is essential that we regularly saturate our hearts, souls, and minds with God’s Word. There are many spiritual benefits to being faithful readers of the Bible, and I’ll highlight 3 for this post, though there are certainly many other benefits.
Reading the Bible gives us needed regular reminders of the Gospel
Jesus is at the center of the Bible. Everything points to Him, from the beginning in Genesis all the way through Revelation (Revelation 1:1 mentions being the revelation of Jesus). The Bible also reveals our sins, our need for salvation, and God’s perfect solution to our hopeless situation.
Even though we are saved as believers in Jesus, it is healthy to be regularly reminded of our need of a perfect Savior. It helps us to remember to repent of our sins, to express heartfelt thanksgiving to Jesus’s saving work on the cross, and to grow in joy knowing that we are free from the bondage of sin and death and that heaven will soon be our home. There is little room for pride when we fill our minds with the message of the Gospel.
We will also be better prepared to “make a defense” for the Gospel when an opportunity arises (1 Peter 3:15). If we struggle to adequately explain the gospel, highlighting the need for a Savior because of our sins, then how can we expect to be effective witnesses for Christ? People will notice that there is something different about us, and people may ask us why we are different than others. Such an opportunity will open the door to share the Gospel with someone who is not saved.
Reading the Bible gives us direction on how to live as Christians
Being a Christian means dedicating our entire lives to Jesus. It is more than just a simple belief; it is faith built on loving and humble servitude to Jesus and other people. Our faith in Christ will lead us to action in our own personal lives and in the lives of other people.
But how do we know how to grow and live as Christians? The Bible is filled with spiritual guidance that will direct us on how we ought to live. One example can be found in Galatians 5. In verses 22-23, Paul lists the 9 fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Unfortunately, worldly understandings of love are often very different than the kinds of love that the Bible talks about. Since the passage does not explain what each fruit means, further study in Scripture is required to fully grasp the meaning and application of each fruit.
How would we know what the fruit of love means? How can we grow in love? What does that look like practically in our daily lives? The solution, of course, is to continue to search the Scriptures for what it teaches on love. A couple of verses that we can look at is John 15: 12-13, for example. Jesus instructs us to love others as He has loved us, and that there is not a greater love than the kind of love that has us laying down our lives for the sake of our friends. Christ-like love involves sacrificial living.
If we are not already generally familiar with the Bible, it can feel overwhelming trying to find different verses and passages that are related to what we are currently reading. Thankfully, there are plenty of tools that we can use to find relevant passages. Many Bibles come with cross-references and concordances that can help us find different passages about love, and we can also search online for related passages.
Whenever the Bible mentions something or instructs us to do something that we do not fully understand or know how to do, our first instinct apart from prayer should be to keep studying Scripture. The Word of God is filled with so much gold, and the more we dig into it, the more we can grow in our understanding of the Lord and become stronger, more faithful believers in Jesus. We limit our growth as Christians when we do not regularly read the Bible.
Reading the Bible will help make us spiritually strong and fruitful
Psalm 1 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. It beautifully illustrates the strength of someone who is righteous and demonstrates the weakness of the unrighteous. Verses 1-2 shows that a man is blessed because his delight is in the law of the Lord. He is so delighted by the law of the Lord that he meditates on it day and night. In verse 3, the blessed man is shown to be as strong as a tree that is planted by streams of water, that is fruitful, and that its leaf does not wither. On the contrary, in verse 4, the wicked are like chaff that are easily blown away by the wind. If we want to be spiritually strong, if we want to be productive Christians, if we want to withstand winds, then we must root ourselves in the Word of God.
Charles Spurgeon said this of John Bunyan (who wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress): “Prick him anywhere; and you will find that his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his soul is full of the Word of God.” Perhaps the illustration is a little odd to think about, but I struggle to find a more apt depiction of someone so filled with Scripture.
What about you? How would someone describe your knowledge and love of the Word of God? Do you delight in Scripture like the blessed man in Psalm 1 and John Bunyan? Do you wish to be as spiritually strong as a tree planted by streams of water? I challenge you, as well as myself, to give more priority to reading the Bible. The world needs more Christians who regularly read the Bible and apply it to their lives.