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The Bible
The Most Read & Misread Book Ever
The Bible is the most misread book ever. People read the Bible for many different reasons, but most of those reasons lead to very little spiritual growth. Some read it out of religion. Some read it out of skepticism. Others read it to gain knowledge so they can preach, teach, or appear wise. Others read it so they can point fingers at other people.
Many read the Bible because they want something from it. They want help, answers, direction, or a better life.
The Bible is not an instruction manual. It is not simply a book of commands and rules. It is not a book to counsel our lives, marriages, and families. It is not a book to help us become financially successful or prosper. It is not a book we use simply for counsel or health.
Fundamentally, you can attain many of those things by following what the Bible teaches. This is one reason the Jewish people have prospered in many ways—they have followed many of God’s ways, even though many do not believe in Jesus and are not saved.
But reading the Bible with any of these things as the main reason misses the vital reason God gave us His Word.
Below are the main reasons we should come before the Bible and the heart we should have when we read it.↴
💭 Know God
The Bible was written by our Father so that we could grow to know and understand Him. It allows us to see how He works, how He loves, and how He cares for His creation. We learn about His character, His capabilities, and His power.
We learn that He fulfills His promises, lives by truth, and can be trusted to do exactly what He says He will do. It is so we learn to worship God with everything we are.
💭 See Yourself
The Bible is not written for our better life, to lift us up, or to make us feel like we can grow into independent, mature people who can run our own lives.
The Bible was written to expose our narcissism and our need to rule our own lives and think highly of ourselves. It is a two-edged sword that cuts us deeply, exposing the cancer we have within us, so that we stop trying to live for ourselves and realize that we need to depend on God for life.
The Bible does not simply show us what is wrong with the world around us. It shows us what is wrong within us.
💭 Learn to Live by Him
The Bible does have commands and instructions, but we must first learn that these things cannot be—and should not be—accomplished without God. It is not in our strength, but in God’s.
He is the fuel that allows us to live rightly and accomplish what He wills in our lives. The instructions are not written so that we can benefit apart from God, but so that we can benefit from everything that is God.
If we use God’s Word for our personal benefit, then we miss out on God. And if we miss out on God, we miss the point.
If we are not reading the Word of God with this heart in mind—with these three fundamental reasons—then we may not benefit from what we could from God’s Word. Worse, we may actually be taking God’s Word and using it as an instrument to our own demise.
Remember, it is God’s Word. It is our Father speaking to us as children He loves.
If we’re not sitting at our Father’s feet trying to know Him—His love, His truth—because we simply want to soak in who He is, His love, and His truth, then we are reading it for our own selfish reasons.
God cannot produce in us what He desires if we come to Him in the flesh. He must first break us of the flesh so that we come before Him with a childlike faith.
💭 Become Like Him
Lastly, the Bible was written not so we become the best version of ourselves, but so we become what God intended us to be from creation—the image of Christ. It is so we become fruit-bearers, light and salt, soldiers for Christ, a reflection of God Himself.
💡 Conclusion
The Bible is not ultimately about making our lives better. It is about knowing our Father.
When we come to His Word wanting to know Him, allowing Him to expose us, correct us, teach us, and change us, then we begin to understand why He gave us His Word in the first place.
We don't come to the Bible to find a better version of ourselves. We come to find God.
Related Scriptures
- John 17:3
- Hebrews 4:12
- John 15:5