Read Your Bible

It disturbs me when I meet professing Christians who give excuses not to attend church. Two days ago, I witnessed to a man riding a bicycle in front of my house. He insisted, “We are having church right now.” Jesus did say in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” However, the body of Christ cannot function to its fullest when believers aren’t connected to the fellowship He’s called us to (1 Corinthians 12:18).

This man also defended his belief that he didn’t need to read the Bible. I had offered to give him a gospel of John but he refused it because “I have God’s word in my head.” Yes, we should memorize and meditate on it (Joshua 1:8). Still, that’s not a substitute for reading Scripture. Even Jesus read it while in the synagogue (Luke 4:16).

Had I thought of it then, I could have quoted Scripture references and challenged this man to tell me what they were. Instead, I recalled this analogy Kenneth Copeland shared in his “From Faith to Faith” devotional: 

“Close your eyes and see yourself slicing a lemon. Now stick that lemon slice between your teeth and when I say, "Three," bite down on it so hard that the juice squirts into your mouth. One. Two. Three. Bite!

"Chances are, you have such a vivid memory of what it's like to bite on a lemon that your mouth is watering right now. But let me ask you this, ‘Have you received any nourishment from that memory?’ No. Remembering the Word of God isn't enough. You must continually feed on what it says. Get it out and read it. Go to church and hear it preached."

I told this man that his body wouldn’t be nourished just by thinking of his favorite foods. Likewise, a Christian will become spiritually weak without quality time reading God’s word. That’s how one feeds his spirit.

Neglecting regular Bible study opens one to deception. Once I felt led to ask my then-girlfriend if she had been reading her Bible. She replied, “I listened to three tapes yesterday.” Sadly, this woman was soon committed to the psychiatric ward and died a year later. Although listening to anointed sermons is beneficial (and I do that a lot), again that’s not a substitute for reading the Word of God for yourself. Acts 17:11 says the Bereans “...searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” We should not blindly accept what a preacher says about it. I’ve seen church signs that say, “Daily bible reading prevents truth decay.” 

In the gospels, Jesus corrected people by asking, “Have you not read?” Going back to the man on the bicycle, I noticed he had a beer in his hand. I didn’t say anything to him about that, but I suspected he was avoiding conviction. I pray this man repents and obeys all of God’s commandments. Mark Twain was famous for saying, “It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it’s the parts that I do understand.”

God’s word will change anyone’s life, but it must be read.

“My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart.” - Proverbs 4:20-21