Whatever It Takes—Read the Bible!

The aim is a thriving, living, intimate relationship with Jesus, the king of the universe. Pursuing a relationship with Jesus delivers incomparable seasons of immense joy. However, pursuing a relationship with Jesus without reading the Bible is like being in a relationship where you do all of the talking, and none of the listening. It would take a patient person to put up with that kind of relationship. While it is true that God wants us to present our requests and concerns to him, with prayer, petition and thanksgiving, God importantly wants us to read and dwell on his word.

Here are some ways that I have grown my relationship with Jesus though Bible reading.

Memorisation

When I started the home schooling journey with my children, the Christian curriculum I chose included Bible memorisation. We memorised Bible passages together. Repeating God’s word many times to memorise the passage helped me to pay close attention to the reading. The meaning and impact of the passage became increasingly clear to me. By the time I memorised the passage, its meaning was crystal clear. This was a delightful and unexpected outcome! The clarity and understanding armed me with courage and wisdom to face my daily challenges. Memorising Scripture is surprisingly powerful.

Teaching Scripture

While I was comfortable in my knowledge of Scripture, explaining it to a room full of wide-eyed, attentive Canterbury school children immediately highlighted my gap in the topic knowledge. Being held responsible for delivering a Scripture lesson compelled me to fully understand a biblical principle or story to the point where I could easily explain it to the students.

‘Google It’

Reading my Bible is dry at times because of the number of unanswered questions it raises in my mind. I find it stimulating and insightful to read the responses to my googled questions from John Calvin, Matthew Henry and Charles Spurgeon. I am grateful to God for the access to this information. I also often listen to a Bible sermon while driving. Finally, I plan to formally study the Bible in the future because I believe it will enhance my relationship with Jesus.

Other Helpful Resources 

Bible plans are a great way to assist regular Bible reading. Steve publishes a five-day plan in the weekly church newsletter. You can also download the ‘Bible App/You Version’ on your phone. My husband David and I start each morning by reading a devotion from the Bible App. We love it and have gained much personal counselling from God!

I find the ‘Bible Project’ videos excellent for making clear what can be longwinded and complex reading. Often, my children and I watch a five-minute Bible Project video before we read that book in the Bible. Here is a good one on Leviticus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmvyrLXoQio

These ways of reading the Bible have enormously helped me to grow my personal relationship with Jesus.

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:11 ESV)

Some Tips for Reading the Bible

I have a friend who knows the Bible better than anyone I’ve ever met. At first I thought he was very intelligent but then I found out that he was just very quirky. It turns out he had developed a habit that he had kept quiet for many years. For most of his Christian life he had woken at 5.30am to read ten pages of his Bible. After some trial and error, he realised it was too tempting to go back to sleep. So he decided to put the alarm on the other side of his room so that he had to pull back the covers and walk over to it. He would then stand up and read his Bible while it rested on a music stand, again because he knew his inclination for sleep. I asked him once how many times he had read through the entire Bible and he couldn’t tell me. It was something like four times a year for most of his Christian life. The entire Bible. Four times a year.

Most of us aren’t as disciplined (or as quirky!) as my dear friend, but the single best thing you can do for your growth as a child of God is to get into a habit of regularly reading God’s word. Over the next few posts some members of our church will share how God has grown them through Bible reading. Here are some brief tips to start with.

1. Know what the bible is and isn’t

The Bible isn’t a collection of fables to live your life by. Nor is it a roadmap to discern God’s will for what you should do on any particular day. It’s a story. I know it sounds cheesy but it is the greatest story ever told. It’s God’s revelation to the world about Jesus Christ. The resurrected Jesus said to his disciples:

This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. (Luke 24.44)

The author of Hebrews also put it like this:

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. (Heb 1.1–2)

2. Read the different genres of the bible differently

Not many people get stirred up by reading the dictionary. But reading poetry can be a different experience. We read different genres all the time. And when we do, we read them in varying ways. The same is true of the Bible. It is made up of history, highly symbolic poetry, songs, humour, long sections of civil and moral law, and even some down right raunchy sections (see Song of Songs).

3. Develop a habit of reading large chunks of scripture

There are many ways you can grow as a child of God through reading the Bible. In some seasons of my life I’ve picked a book of the Bible, read it in smaller sections and then meditated on those words. I repeated this until I knew the book intimately.

The model I find myself returning to most often, though, is regularly reading larger chunks of the Bible. My current aim is to read through it all in one year. Although this sounds like a lot, it’s quite doable. Every week in our church email we have five readings that will take you through the entire Bible each year. Five readings over seven days. It works out to be about 10–15 mins of reading per day.

I have found this habit has helped me to understand that the Bible is one story all about Jesus.

4. Remember that reading the bible is a means to an end, not an end in itself

At the end of the day, how you read the Bible isn’t anywhere near as important as why you read the Bible—to grow in your knowledge and love of God. The goal of any spiritual discipline is to grow in our maturity in Christ (Col 1.28).

The more reading the Bible becomes a habit for you, the more you will grow as a child of God. And that will be obvious to those who see you.

One day I’d love to introduce you to my friend. He’s by no means perfect but the fruit of his daily habit is obvious to anyone who meets him. You can see how his knowledge of the Bible has developed in him a deep love of Jesus and other people.

In his book, Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis describes what it’s like to meet someone like this:

Every now and then one meets them. Their very voices and faces are different from ours: stronger, quieter, happier, more radiant. They begin where most of us leave off. They are, I say, recognisable; but you must know what to look for. They will not be very like the idea of ‘religious people’ which you have formed from your general reading. They do not draw attention to themselves. You tend to think that you are being kind to them when they are really being kind to you.

What about you? What have you found helpful in reading the Bible?