First, I'm not trying to say that if you don't read the Word every day that you therefore have no relationship with God. I think reading the Bible is very important, but I also know that a lot of other things contribute to your relationship. Such as prayer (which in my opinion is more important then reading the Bible daily), personal experiences, reading other peoples experiences (like devo books, and other works like that). So don't think I'm trying to say that your relationship is entirely dependent on how much of the Bible you read.
And then also I guess what I'm really trying to get at from this post is, how are we approaching Bible reading? I think why we often don't read is because we're coming with the wrong attitude.
Ok, hopefully that'll clear stuff up.
Here we go...
The other day I was texting with a friend who is going through a lot and who hasn't been feeling God's presence in her life lately. As we texted I encouraged her to read her Bible daily because earlier she had mentioned how she hasn't been of late. She then replied as to how she didn't want to read or pray, because it felt like no one was there. No one to hear her. I replied to her with this:
"Think of it this way; when you say to yourself "I'm not going to read my Bible today because I really don't want to", tell yourself "and Jesus isn't going to forgive my sins today 'cause he really doesn't want to be nailed to the cross." Sometimes we've got to do something we really don't want to for love. We love God. Even though sometimes it feels like we don't. But because we're human, we're selfish. And we forget that God asks us to be like Jesus. I bet you Jesus wanted nothing to do with the cross. Nothing. He even asked God to take it away in his prayer. But God put him through it anyway. So even if you're thinking "I don't want seek God today because he isn't there", think of Jesus. God wasn't at the cross either. He turned his back on his own son so that you might be forgiven. Don't ever think Jesus doesn't know what you're feeling. He understands the most."
Yes, that was all one text. If you've ever had a real convo with me over text you know I can go on forever haha!
Anyways, I'm really not sure how I thought of that. But yet, it's so true. What if Jesus decieded he wasn't going to die for our sins today. Now, before you get off on a debate of "well, Jesus died for our sins over 2,000 years ago, so it doesn't matter how he feels today because it's in the past blah, blah, blah..." That's not my point. So be quiet. God works out of our time and space. Just get use to it. This is also just an example.
We often make excuses for ourselves for not reading the Bible or spending time in prayer. "I'm to tired","I have homework to do", "I'm to busy", "I'm with friends", "God isn't there", "God's to busy fixing Obama to spend time with me", "I'm sick". It goes on and on. Couldn't Jesus have said the same things, the same excuses, so as not to have died? I'm not trying to say we should do a guilt trip every time we read our Bibles. That shouldn't be our motive. But I think we need to put it in perspective. This isn't about being the perfect Christian. This isn't about doing evey thing right so God will bless you.
This is about love.
This is about your relationship with God.
He understands you more then you probably realize. And he wants that time with you. The more you immerse yourself in the Word, the more knowledge you gain from studying righteous things, the more time you spend with God... the more you will be intune to Him, and the more you will hear Him in every area of your life.
If you claim to be a Christian right now, and you say you have a relationship with God, are you holding up your end of the relatioship? It takes both sides to make it work. And believe me, God's doing his part.
Are you?
