Why Read The Bible? One Reason.
Today’s Passage: Hebrews 4:12
I googled “Why read the Bible?” and read some really good stuff.
Many of the articles were titled, “4 Reasons to…”, or “10 Reasons to…”. There was a long list.
I want to go out on a limb.
There is one primary reason to read the Bible—to deeply, relationally, know, and be known by God!
If there is a God, do you want to know Him? If yes, then read the Bible.
If you already know God, do you want to know Him more? If yes, then read the Bible.
I will, in a separate reflection, share how I suggest you specifically approach reading God’s Word in order to know Him more. For now, I want to ruminate a bit on “Why”.
As I indicated above, there are many good articles on all the benefits you will receive from reading the Scriptures, but it would seem to me that having a deeper relationship with the Living God is number one.
Let’s consider an analogy—marriage.
There are many benefits to being married. As a husband, I am somewhat cautious about listing them for fear of falling into being accused of being stereotypically male.
Yet what is the main benefit of marriage? To know and be known—to love and be loved. Marriage affords an opportunity of commitment offered no where else. It is fraught with challenge. It takes long term commitment. You can go about it in completely the wrong way. One of the mistakes we “married folk” fall into is evaluating our marriage based on the benefits we “get” from our spouse. When we do not “get’ what we want, we become dissatisfied. Yet that is not what marriage is about.
The same is true in our relationship with God.
Elsewhere I have written that followers of Jesus, over the years, have practiced a number of habits. We worship, study, serve, have fellowship, and pray. They each have their benefits. Yet we do all that in a relationship with God.
Just like marriage, the degree to which we “do things” is completely a function of the depth of our relationship with the other person. Therefore, the depth of our worship, etc., is a function of how well we know God. Certainly, as we “do things”, God reveals himself to us and our relationship deepens. Yet so often, we focus on the “doing” that we fail to appreciate the who we are doing it for.
The antidote is to spend time with God, not doing, but simply being with Him and His Word.