Spiritual Disciplines: Scripture Intake

“Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3b).

In our culture, if you want to learn about somebody the easiest thing to do is look at their Facebook page, Twitter or Instagram feeds, or Google search their name (you’d be surprised what you’ll find!). We can get a snapshot of who the person is, what they’ve done, their likes and dislikes, and what others say about them. It’s gotten to the point that managers looking to hire people will look at the person’s online presence to see what type of person they are.

On a much grander scale, God has given us the Bible, His Word, so that we can know Him and learn all about Him. In the Bible we also learn about the plan of redemption and how He has orchestrated a rescue plan for us, to save us from sin and death. The Bible is one of the primary ways that God has given us so that by it we can have a relationship with Him. This begs the question, if people want to understand who God is then why don’t they read the Bible more often? Research in Canada shows that only 1 in 5 Christians read the Bible more than once a week to understand how it applies to their lives (results from the 2014 Canadian Bible Engagement Study). That means 80% of Christians go through their day to day lives, saying they are a follower of Jesus, but not really knowing what that means or fully knowing how. There’s lots of room for improvement here!

This Sunday we will continue our series in Spiritual Disciplines, focusing on studying the Bible. I’d encourage you to take some time this week and do just that by reading Psalm 119. And this would be a good time for you to practice what we looked at this past Sunday, Silence and Solitude. Before you begin, take 2-3 minutes to sit quietly and ask God for guidance and direction as you study the Bible. Don’t think of this as wasted time, but as preparation for your study, like stretching before working out — it’s all part of the same activity.