When we don’t read the Bible regularly we are not becoming as mature as we could or should be:
1. We are not getting to know God as well as we otherwise would
2. We are not getting as clean and free from sin as we otherwise would
3. We are not growing spiritually as much as we could
4. We are less equipped for life than we could be
5. We are not taking God seriously enough
1. We are not getting to know God as well as we otherwise would
The Bible is rich and full of insights about God, insights we can gain nowhere else. A few days ago I listed more than forty truths about Jesus and twelve truths about God the Father from Revelation 1 alone. And the Bible has 1189 chapters! There are thousands of such truths waiting for us on the pages of Scripture – truths about God’s thoughts, words and deeds, about His nature and character, His likes and dislikes, about His plans and promises and commandments and values, and so much more. If we don’t read the Bible regularly, the chances are we’ll stay ignorant about the vast majority of these truths.
But let’s think in the opposite direction. The more regularly you read, the more opportunities you’ll have to increase your knowledge of God, to enrich your conversations with Him, to get closer to Him and become more like Jesus. The knowledge of God is the source of unique joy at all times, and in times of trouble it is “the people who know their God” who will “be strong and take action” (Daniel 11:32, NASB20).
2. We are not getting as clean and free from sin as we otherwise would
Becoming aware of personal sin is one of the most important spiritual events we can experience when we meet with God through reading His Word. There are some sins we see immediately after committing them because they are obvious but the biblical text also makes us aware of sins that are harder to see – sins that are hidden deeper in our being or those that we committed a long time ago but weren’t aware of at the time and forgot about. Reading the Scripture also helps us become aware of certain strongholds we need to be set free from.
I remember so well the first time this happened to me. I was reading the Bible and I became aware of a sin I had committed many times in the past (it was a kind of murmuring and I was already a Christian). At the time of that Bible reading it had been more than two years since that kind of behavior surfaced in my life, but the biblical passage made me see how strongly God disapproved of it! I also realized that I had never really confessed that sin to God, nor had I apologized to Him or asked for His forgiveness. I had also never asked Him to set me free from the root of such behavior. Reading that short portion of Scripture moved me to ask Jesus to wash me from that old sin, to heal my heart, and to set me free from the attitude from which my murmuring had sprung. God is so gracious and patient.
3. We are not growing spiritually as much as we could
Each day is a new opportunity for spiritual growth, but that growth is not automatic. The more we read, study, and apply the Bible the more we grow, but the opposite is also true.
The good news is that every Christian has a vast potential for spiritual growth – so vast, in fact, that the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews said in 5:12 that all Christians should be teachers after a certain amount of time. We are made to grow spiritually and God has given us the written manual. If you want to grow in obedience to God, the Bible contains the commandments of Jesus and His apostles, along with many examples of obedience. If you want to grow wiser, the Bible is the ultimate source of God-approved wisdom and the ultimate source of information about Jesus, who is “the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24), the one “greater than Solomon” (Matthew 12:42). If you want to be more fruitful, the Bible will reveal to you what fruits are valuable in God’s sight. If you want to grow in godly character, the Bible tells you what virtues to pursue and pray for. If you want to align your value system to God’s, the Bible will help you know what His standards are. If you want to be better protected from mistaking other voices for God’s, you can regularly listen to God’s voice in the Bible. If you want to grow in Christlikeness, the Bible is our primary source of knowledge about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
But if we don’t read the Bible regularly, the bad news is that God will not supernaturally make us grow. If we want to ignore His Word, he will let us do so. He might warn us from time to time, but he will not compensate for our laziness.
If we don’t read the Bible regularly and the years pass by, the chances are that the words from Hebrews 5:12 apply to us:
“For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God's utterances. You have gone back to needing milk, not solid food.”
Christian growth does not happen of its own accord and being a Christian for a long time is not a guarantee that a person is spiritually mature, biblically knowledgeable, and ready for solid food. The writer actually says: “You have gone back to needing milk”, which means that the passing of time can make things worse if we are not growing, even if we were once relatively mature and ready for solid food. This is a sad and sobering fact: it is possible to be a Christian for decades and to be in need of “the beginning elements” of God’s Word instead of being a teacher.
You might feel regret and sadness if this verse is true about your life. Such emotions are actually good, because they mean that God’s Word and your spiritual growth matter to you. You might not be able to overcome those feelings for some time, but please don’t think it’s too late for you. It’s not. God loves you and he is waiting for you – to bless you, to teach you, and to make you grow through His Word. Don’t let your emotions pull you down into depression, but lift them up in prayer to God and use them as motivators to start over, to connect with God regularly through reading His Word, and to start growing again.
4. We are less equipped for life than we could be
The Bible is meant to equip us in many ways and to play many roles in our lives. I will briefly mention some of them.
In Ephesians 6, Paul tells us to put on the whole armour of God, including “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17, NASB). A sword is used both for attack and for defense, but when the battle starts, it’s too late to get skillful with it. Daily practice is simply irreplaceable. Reading the Bible is just one of many sword-skills we can develop (some others are studying the Bible, memorizing biblical texts or facts, summarizing biblical passages, teaching the Bible, praying the Bible, etc.). Let us never forget that we are pilgrim-warriors on the way to the King’s City and that we are traveling through the dark places of the enemy’s territory.
Since our path sometimes leads us through darkness, the Bible is also meant to be our lamp and light, as the psalmist said: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (Psalm 119:105, NIV).
As we travel with our sword ready and our lamp lit, the Bible is also meant to be our food. Jesus said: “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4). It is “sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10b), and Job said: “I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my allotted portion” (Job 23:12).
The Bible is also meant to quench our thirst. Psalm 1 teaches us that the person who delights in God’s Word and meditates on it day and night is “like a tree planted by streams of water” (Psalm 1:2-3).
The Bible is also our mirror (see James 1:22-25), the good seed we can constantly sow in our life and in the lives of others (see Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23), and the treasure we carry – “more precious than gold, than much pure gold” (Psalm 19:10a, NIV).
It is our choice whether or not we will go through life unarmed, stumbling in the dark, hungry, thirsty, and penniless. Praise God we don’t have to.
5. We are not taking God seriously enough
God chose to speak to us primarily through the written text of the Bible. When we don’t read the Bible, we are not listening to the most important and most authoritative way God chose to speak to us. If our King asks us one day: “Why didn’t you take my Word more seriously?” what are we going to say? If the One who loves us asks: “Why didn’t you meet with me more regularly and listen to what I have to say more often?”, what will we answer?
Let us set our priorities straight and let us honor and love our King and Savior, Jesus Christ, the way we know we should.
If you have any questions, you can write them in the comments below or send me an email to matej@pbsi.online.
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