In my discipleship group at church, we are going through Francis Chan’s book “MULTIPLY” and it is amazing! This past week, we came to a section in the book entitled “Why Study the Bible?”. I thought that was an interesting title until I began to read the chapter.
I am not going to talk about the whole chapter today, but I do want to share with you several quotes from Francis Chan regarding the Bible and why we should be in God’s Word.
… an important part of making disciples is teaching people to obey everything Jesus commanded (Matthew 28:20). This means that we need to know Jesus’s teaching and commands.
When we talk about the Bible, we’re actually talking about something that the all-powerful, all-knowing, transcendent God decided to write to us! What could be important?
If we really believe that the Bible is the Word of God, then it should be much more than a book that we are familiar with. It ought to shape every aspect of our existence. It should guide the decisions we make in like. If God is the designer and creator of this world, if He made us and placed us on this earth, and if He has taken the time to tell us who He is, who we are, and how this world operates, then what could be more important to us than the Bible?
As our group discussed this chapter, I began to wonder just how often Christians are in God’s Word. If we truly believe that the Bible is God’s Word, just like Chan said, should that not drive us to read it everyday?
So, I want to know – How much are you in God’s Word? How important is it to YOU and do you let it shape “every aspect of your existence”?
(Don’t worry, this is only a vote and no names will be collected in this poll. I will not be able to track down IP address or anything that may be traced back to you – so be honest!).
Please take the time to vote and then share this poll with other people! I’ll post the results in a few weeks.
jasonlsneed.com 
Another important step to reading the Bible daily is to meditate on the words of God. To quote Don Whitney, a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Spirituality, “Unless we change our people to a practice of meditation we will be a mile wide but an inch deep. We have to be disciplined to meditate on scripture.” This is a biblical practice that we can find in Joshua 1:8, Psalm 119, Psalm 1:1-3. Another quote by Whitney is, ” You have to linger by a fire to get warm.” This was in regards to just a quick look at scripture and not lingering on what was in the text.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord!
Kyle, I completely agree with you on the importance of meditating on God’s Word. That is another reason why I believe it is importance to memorize God’s Word as well – so we can recall it at anytime. Great quotes by the way!
Thanks for the great post, Jason. It’s amazing to me how many people have been Christians their entire lives and have never even read the Bible through ONCE, let alone on a regular, ongoing basis. I love the Bible, and more importantly, I love Jesus. He died for me! He wrote a book so I could know Him more, why wouldn’t I want to read it??
Chris, your comment would go along very well with the chapter that I was referring to as far as why we need to be in God’s Word. Just like the quote that I referred to, it should “shape every aspect of our lives” and I am afraid that too many people don’t view it that way. Keep up the great work you are doing Chris!
Thanks Jason… you too!