“The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and centre of their hearts.” – A. W. Tozer

I’d like to start this article with a bit of refresher from last week. The previous article taught us about the seven characteristics of the Word of God and its effects towards our lives. These characteristics can be found in the Bible, and hence, we know that everything that is written in the Bible was inspired by God, and therefore is the very Word of God and is true. They are not interpretations from the author of the article but are God’s own revelation about Himself and His Word.

Now, we may already know why we need the Word of God in our lives, but there is another question that I’d like all of us to ponder: Why do we read the Bible? What is our goals in reading the Word of God?

What is a ‘goal’?

Let’s start by a quick definition of the word ‘goal’ itself. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, ‘goal’ is defined as “the end toward which effort is directed”. When we set a goal for something, it is natural to put all our energy, abilities, and strengths to achieve that goal. 

A goal, then, undoubtedly can be a good thing, because it motivates us to take integral steps and move forward to achieve that desired result. A goal can also make you feel that every step you take feels purposeful. Suppose you set a goal to lose 20kg in 2024, I’m sure that you will find going to the gym and cutting junk foods easier because you know why you are doing what you do and what these things can do for you to attain that goal.

The same can be said with our journey in our Christian faith. One of the greatest examples we can find in the Bible is in Philippians 3, where Apostle Paul boldly proclaimed that he considered his ‘advantages’, such as his societal status and his lineage, as garbage (Philippians 3:8). How can Paul say that? After all, during his time, such societal status and pure lineage was considered highly valuable.

But Paul continued to explain that he considered these things as a loss so that he ‘may gain Christ and be found in Him…’ (Phil 3:9). In short, Paul knew exactly what his goal was, which enabled him to disregard his advantages to press on toward his goal.

But a goal can be a very personal and subjective thing, and each person can have a different narrative that motivates why they have set that goal. For instance, we know – based on empirical facts – that being overweight is a bad thing. So, two people may decide to lose some weight over the next few months. But they have different motives: Person A is setting that goal to improve their overall health and fitness, whereas person B decides to lose weight to gain self-confidence and affirmation from other people. 

Similarly, we may know the truth that the Bible is profitable, live-giving, and our supreme authority in conducting our lives. But what motivates our Bible-reading routine? We may know what is true yet fall into the trap of reading the Bible with the wrong goal and motivation. But I hope that this article can lead us into self-reflection and self-interrogation so that our Bible-reading routine can be pleasing to God’s eyes.

What the goals should not be

Before we get into the good goals of reading the Bible, let’s first examine a few common, yet erroneous goals that we may find ourselves in. Here, I am laying out three goals in which we need to avoid:

1. Our Bible-reading routine is not a way to earn or keep our salvation: While I may be stating the obvious here, I would say that this is still one of the common pitfalls where Christians can fall in, and the problem is that this goal can be so subtle we may not even realise it. How many of us feel somewhat ‘less’ righteous if we missed our Bible-reading routine? How many of us feel more secured and safer with our righteousness or that God will be more pleased with us because we have read the Bible today? We may know that God saves us because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross that redeemed us, but often our goals may still reflect a work-based foundation in reading the Gospel.
2. Our Bible-reading routine is not a checklist to be ticked: This is somewhat related to the previous point. We may think that spending just a few minutes a day skimming through the Bible is sufficient for our Christian lives. It’s true that as Paul said in Romans 10:17 that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ”. Reading the Bible cultivates our faith, yet that does not paint the whole picture. James 1:22-25 said: “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not the doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does”. Additionally, Jesus said in Matthew 13:23, it is those who hear the Word and understand it, will bear fruits in their lives. The goal of reading the Bible then is not simply about reading it and getting it over with, but it is so that we can apply what we’ve learnt and be a doer of His Word. 
3. The goal of reading the Bible should not be about “what’s in it for me?”: Let’s face it, many of us sometimes feel clueless about the directions of our lives. We don’t know where to go or which path to choose, so we decide to find that direction in the best place that we can find: the Bible. But while the Bible is the supreme authority that guides our conduct in life, the Bible is not a book that tells us who exactly our future spouse is, what is the best job to take, and so forth. The Bible guides us to be wise in every aspect of our lives, but unfortunately God (and His Word) is not a fortune teller that will tell us our future.

I’m certain that there are multitudes of other erroneous goals that can be found. But there is one common theme shared across these three pitfalls, and it is that these goals are a me-centred approach. When we approach Bible-reading in a self-centred way, we will undoubtedly fail to see the wonder and beauty of His Word.

So, what should our goals be?

Same as the previous section, I am laying out three goals that may be beneficial for our Bible-reading routine, and I pray that it can enlighten us and motivate us in our Bible-reading journey.

1. The goal of our Bible-reading to know God: Have you ever thought about how gracious our God is, that He reveals Himself in the most accessible way possible? God could have revealed Himself in a supernatural way or other way that requires us to do something special, but rather He’s done it in a written book where everyone equally gets the chance to seek Him. And so, because God has revealed Himself in the Scripture, wouldn’t it only be natural and logical that the goal of reading the Bible is to know about Him? As John Piper once wrote “The Bible is indispensable to the Christian life. Without the written Word, we simply could not know the Incarnate Word”.
2. The goal of our Bible-reading routine is to deepen our personal relationship with Christ: If we read the Bible with the goal to know God more, then consequently that goal leads to another goal, which is to deepen our personal relationship with Christ. After all, no one intends to know a person if they have no intention to build a relationship with that person. Suppose you are a young boy who wants to court a girl he likes, it would be normal – and even expected – for the boy to get to know the girl, right? And the opposite applies too, if the boy says he likes that girl but has no intention to know her more, wouldn’t it feel rather foolish? The same with our personal relationship with God, if we say we want to love Him and deepen our relationship with Him but do not want to know Him more by reading His Word, then such a statement becomes rather futile and empty.
3. The goal of our Bible-reading routine is to see God’s glory and to worship God: One of the clearest verses that bridges reading the Word of God with seeing God’s glory can be found in Ephesians 3:4, where Paul said that “when you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ”. In the most ordinary act of reading a book, God allows His people to not only see Himself revealed, but also to see God’s divine glory and infinite beauty. How amazing and wonderful is that? It is an important goal, then, for us to achieve (and pray), that the act of reading the Bible is more than just simply about reading, but it allows us to see God’s glory revealed in His Word, but to enjoy His beauty and infinite worth, and to respond to His glory with fervent worship from our hearts.

I’d like to end this article with an exhortation. While we have learnt about the ‘right and wrong’ of setting goals for our Bible-reading, ultimately there is one thing we need to do each time we open the Bible: pray.

Our knowledge, our goals, our abilities to read the Bible can only take us so far, but God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us in our journey. Pray that God will enlighten us and reveal Himself to us as we read the Word, and that the Holy Spirit also enables us to do the Word in our lives.