“Your Word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” – Psalm 119: 105

John Piper said “I have never met a mature Christians who doesn’t read the Bible regularly”. I concur with his statement. People may come up with many excuses when we confront them on why they don’t read the Bible on a daily basis, such as, “I don’t have time”, “It’s too boring”, “It’s hard to understand ”.

But, it’s essentially a matter of priority and time management. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. If we do not want to spend 3 minutes on a daily devotion with our God, we’ll have to check deep down in our hearts on what it is exactly we’re serving.

So why do we need to read the Bible regularly?

Reason #1: Because the Bible is timeless.

While our technology keeps advancing, our basic human nature remains the same. Thus the Bible is as relevant for us as it was when it was written. Just like what the Qoheleth said in Ecclesiastes “There is nothing new under the sun”. We’re so oblivious in seeking satisfaction in the wrong places and God tells us what the everlasting joy is in His revealed Word. The Bible is so important that Jesus said of it, “Man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”. In other words, if we want to live life as God intended, we’ll have to read and study God’s written Word.

Reason #2: Because there is a lot of false teaching out there. 

The Bible gives us the standard by which we can tell the truth from the wrong things. It tells us what God truly is like. To have a wrong impression of God is to worship an idol or false god. We are worshipping something that He is not. The Bible tells us how a person gets to heaven, and it is definitely not by being good or by work. It’s by our faith in Christ alone.

Reason #3: Because the Bible equips us to serve God.

The Bible helps us know how to be saved from our sin and its ultimate consequence. God’s Word helps us see through our sins like an X-ray vision. It keeps us from wasting our lives on things that don’t really matter in the end. The Bible equips us with what we need to fulfil God’s plan.

Reason #4: Because the Bible makes us wiser.

The Bible also guides us in making us wiser in navigating through the complexities of our lives where moral law doesn’t apply. Reading and studying the Bible helps us see beyond the attractiveness of sins to the painful consequences of sins so that we can learn from other’s mistakes. Many said that experience is a great teacher, but when it comes to learning from sin, it is a hard and painful teacher. In fact, there are too many irreversible pains that were caused by our sins but we’re just a little bit too late to realise them. It would be so much wiser for us to learn from others’ mistakes (like from many Bible characters).

Now what?

The Bible is not only for reading. It is also for studying so that we can understand before we apply the Biblical principles in our life. Just like during exams, we can’t just read the lecture notes and textbooks in a short period of time. We have to spend time on studying all the materials properly to do well.

Otherwise, it is like swallowing food without chewing and then spitting it back out again, you won’t gain any nutritional value in the end. The Bible is God’s Word. It’s like the law of gravity. If you jump from a two-storey house balcony, you’ll survive but at least you’ll break your ankle for sure. That’s how important it is to read and study the Bible. 

Studying the Bible is like mining for gold. If we make little effort and only sift through the pebbles in a stream, we’ll only find some gold dust. But if we dig into it more, we’ll find the golden nuggets. Next week, we’ll discuss how to read the Bible.

Ultimately, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, this shows God understands the sin and the brokenness of this world and loves us enough to send His only son, Jesus Christ to die for our sins so that we may experience His grace and glory. And it is by this realisation that we’ll be drawn to love Him in return by reading and studying His word consistently so that in everything that we do, we do it to glorify the Creator of the whole universe, our Lord, our King, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.