Rid Your Heart of These False Motives for Reading Your Bible

Why do we read the Bible?

Have you ever asked yourself that question? Have you ever wondered why reading the Bible is so important for Christians?

There is one really good reason why we should read our Bibles.

It has been stated that the Bible is the most-sold book in all of history.

It has been called a history book.

A love letter from God.

While these statements may be true, in a sense, they are not the reason why we should make it a daily discipline to read the Bible.

If we approach the Bible as a best-seller, we insult the power of its words.

If we approach the Bible as a mere history book, we degrade the importance of its inspiration.

If we approach the Bible as a love letter, we fail to understand the purpose of why it was given to us to read.

The one really good reason to read your Bible is to get to know God.

This is the single greatest difference between Christianity and every other religion.

The god of every other religion is unapproachable, unpredictable, and incapable of clearly defining his wishes. This unpredictable nature creates a great fear in the hearts of his followers. They can never know if they have pleased him or called his wrath down on their heads.

But Almighty God, chose to make Himself known to mankind, even as we are known by Him.

That thought is mind-blowing. How are you known by God?

You are known so intimately that no human could ever know another human being as intimately as God knows you. Before He created the world, He had already mapped out every detail of you in a book. He knows the number of hairs on your head right now. He knows every motive behind everything you say, do, or think.

He, in fact, knows you better than you know yourself, because we’re so prone to allow our own rationalizations to deceive us.

God wants us to know Him this intimately.

And so, He gave us the Bible.

The Bible has also been called an instruction manual for life, but even that isn’t the purpose of the Bible. God didn’t give us the Bible to tell us how to live our lives; He gave us the Bible so we could get to know Him.

The more we get to know God intimately, the more we will want to glorify Him through our lives.

The more we seek to glorify God through our lives, the more we will want to keep His commandments and do those things He instructed us to do.

Keeping His commands, however, must always flow out of relationship with God.

And that’s what the Bible comes down to:

Relationship

Getting to know God intimately so that our lives look more like Him, so that His light can shine brightly through our lives, so that our lives reflect His love and grace to the world.

So, how well do you know God? {eoa}

Dr. F. Dean Hackett has served in full-time Christian ministry since October 1971. He has ministered throughout the United States, Canada and Europe, serving as pastor, conference speaker and mentor. He has planted four churches, assisted in planting 15 others, and currently serves as lead pastor of Living Faith Church in Hermiston, Oregon. Dr. Hackett founded Spirit Life Ministries International in 2001 to facilitate ministries in Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovina and to open a training center for workers in those nations. You can find him at F. Dean Hackett – Foundational, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.