Tolle Lege! Take Up and Read!

How are you doing with the Bible-reading schedule?

Many of us have committed to read the Bible through in a calendar year. If you are like most Christians, I would guess that more and more challenges are arising to stay consistent in reading the Bible. More excuses are coming to mind. More commitments have been made to give you less time for other commitments.

And the daily Bible reading schedule that you kept to so faithfully in January is starting to see less and less of you.

You will find a hard time coming up with a better commitment than reading through the Bible regularly? All most every other commitment or resolution you make it going to be less valuable than regularly digesting god’s Word.

So, if you are struggling right now to read your Bible and need some extra encouragement to “keep on keeping on,” this blog post is for you.

Why should you re-commit yourself to that Bible reding program?

Reading the Bible will help you to get to know God better. Not just gathering more knowledge, but learning to walk with Him. God speaks to us from His Word (Hebrews 4:12).

Reading the Bible will help you know yourself better. No other book can change your nature, inform your conscience and teach you how to grow. The Bible tells us everything we need to know about ourselves, our needs, and our hopes.

Reading the Bible will display the Gospel. The narrative of Scripture is a redemption story. It starts in a perfect world, where sin is invited, and the glory of God is marred. It shows creation groaning for reconciliation to its Creator. It demonstrates the need for the arrival of the Messiah to Earth. It celebrates His defeat of death and sin the promises the hope of everlasting life.

Reading the Bible will give you a bigger view of God. The temptation is to make God in our own image instead of allowing His majesty to inform us of who He is. There is mystery about God and that mystery reminds us He is God and we are not.

Reading the Bible will enable you to pray more faithfully. You will encounter the prayers of saints often in the Bible and you will discover what they prayed for, what emptions they expressed when they prayed, the frequency of their prayers and their motivations to pray. The more of the Bible you know, the more you will pray.

Reading the Bible will equip you to bless others. Discipleship will come more naturally. Encouraging words will flow from your lips when you encounter someone who needs to be lifted up. Wisdom will develop of the benefit of those who need counsel.

Reading the Bible will prove you to there is nothing that you need for life and godliness (II Peter 1:3) that you cannot find in God’s sufficient, clear, inerrant, necessary revelation.

Tolle lege! Take up and read!