Reasons for Reading the Bible

Perhaps a better place to start this line is to admit the main reason for why I do not read the Bible everyday = I am too busy and/or I don't have the time. I am awake about 16 hours per day. It takes a 30 minutes to read a chapter in the Bible and write about it. Who can say they don't waste at least 30 minutes per day on things that, in the long run, really do not matter?

The reason I do not read the Bible everyday is that I do not consider the Bible to be more important than reading the paper everyday (I do that for at least 30 minutes a day), watching the news on TV (at least 30 minutes per day), watching sports on TV, or when there are no games, wasting time watching ESPN on TV (I can tell you the latest news about the Braves, Falcons and Hawks, I can tell you which baseball teams are in first place, I can tell you who won the Stanley Cup last night, give you my opinion - based on ESPN "facts" - whether Orlando has a chance to beat LA in their next game, and many, many, many more irrelevant bits of information), or playing on the computer (I do that for much more than 30 minutes per day)!

The FACT is I have the time! The reason I do not read the Bible everyday is that I do not consider it to be important enough!!!

So, why read the Bible? For many, many years, I thought the answer to this question was: 'so that I could please God.' And if I 'pleased God' things would go well for me. My life would be better! I thought that reading was a way to get the 'things' I really wanted in life. Some of these 'things' were noble - good marriage, healthy children, good friends, happiness, and so on. Some of these 'things' were purely selfish - more money, a new car, a bigger house, a submissive wife, obedient children, and such. I thought that if I just put in my 30 minutes per day reading God's word, GOD would do these things for me. I thought GOD would make everything better. I thought GOD would work miracles in my life.

I don't think that is true anymore. I am beginning to FINALLY see that we make our own life and we deal with our own issues. God does not swoop down when we cry out to him and make it all better. It is not "magic." Reading the Bible is not a way to get something easy. As my dad always told me, 'the best things in life cost the most' and there is no such thing as 'the easy way.'

I now think that the Bible is a gift that God gave to us to help us understand life! Reading the Bible does not put God into action. Instead, it equips us to deal with life's twists and turns in a way that will more often than not lead to success instead of failure. Not that 'success' automatically means health, happiness or wealth. Instead, the Bible can teach us how to face challenges when they come.

It is a manual of sorts. I just finished reading Genesis with my daughter. She reads about one chapter in the Bible every night out loud to me before she goes to bed. Genesis is full of deceit, murder, theft, sexual activity and even perversion - SIN to the max. I cringed many nights as she read. If you just listen to what is said, it is amazing. And most of this is from God's 'chosen' people! But as I listened, I began to think more and more about how the people in Genesis are just like people today. There really is 'nothing new under the sun.'

So, I plan to start reading the Bible to explore, to learn, to see, to experience, to equip. I plan to read with an open mind. I plan to marvel at the good and the bad that is there. I am not going to try to explain it all. I just want to see what it says and to learn what I can. I believe that someday, in someway, what I read with help me.

Yesterday I installed a ceiling fan in my back room. There is no way I could have completed the job without the instructions. I looked at the instructions for every step. I have installed other fans and I have done other similar work, so in fact, other manuals that I have read while working helped me understand yesterday's fan instructions and it helped me do a better and quicker job than I would have done if yesterday was the first manual I read. I think the Bible and daily reading is about the same. I don't know how a fan works, I don't really know everything about electricity, about electric motors, about lights, about variable speeds, about remote control via wireless clickers, or about many, many other things. But I do know how to use these better because of the manual and the doing from yesterday.

I don't understand God. I don't understand nature or creation. I don't understand humans. I don't understand marriage or children or friends. But I can read the Bible and by reading perhaps know how to use these in my life better and more effective than I have been.

My random thoughts for today. Tomorrow, again, reasons for reading the Bible. Then I plan to start I Cor 1 on Monday.