Have you ever taken the time to examine the attitude you bring to reading your Bible? Do you view reading the Bible as just your Christian duty or is reading the Bible something more? Do you find reading the Bible as dull and boring, hard to understand, or a book with too many difficult admonitions to obey?
May I submit to you that the more you fall in love with Jesus, the more you will be able to turn Bible reading from boring to bliss and from dull to delight.
I don’t know about you but when I pick up my Bible I view it as going on a fantastic voyage and wonderful treasure hunt into the pages of the greatest book ever written. Are you like the Christian who says, “I guess I should read my Bible today,” and who searches for time to fit the Bible into their schedule, or are you like the psalmist when he shares: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:2).
Pastor Francis Chan sums up this attitude issue well when he says: “God doesn’t want religious duty. He doesn’t want a distracted, half-hearted, ‘Fine, I’ll read a chapter…now are You happy?’ attitude. God wants His word to be a delight to us, so much that we meditate on it day and night.”1
So, the big question before all Christians is how can we turn our Bible reading from dull to delight? I hope, if you are still struggling with reading your Bible on a daily basis, that the following few observations may help turn Bible reading into the great joy God always intended it to be.
Approach the Bible with the Holy Spirit as your guide
It is so important to realize that without the Holy Spirit we will never be able to gain the deep spiritual and practical insights that are contained in the Bible. I like to view the Holy Spirit as the great illuminator that opens our eyes to the deep truths contained in the Scriptures. So, the next time you pick up your Bible ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate the passages you are reading to your mind and heart. With the Holy Spirit as your guide, I believe, He can change your attitude from duty to delight; as well as help you to understand better what you are reading.
Realize that when you read the Bible you are in communication with God
The next time you read the Bible realize that you are in communication with the sovereign Creator and ruler of the universe. What a glorious thought that divinity has chosen this book to communicate with humanity, and that every time you read the Bible you have a personal audience with Jesus!
Ask God to make the Bible exciting to read
Below is my personal testimony on how God changed my entire perspective on reading the Bible:
Right before I gave my heart to Jesus I read the entire Bible. One thing I can vividly remember is that certain books in the Bible were incredibly boring. This was especially true of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Two or three years after I got saved I read Deuteronomy again with a similar experience – it was still boring.
One or two years later (around 1986) I decided to give it another try and this time something very special happened. This fifth book of the Bible began to minister to me like never before and exploded into my mind with action, excitement, wisdom, and sheer joy!
Why this total transformation from dull to dynamic, from boring to bliss, and from avoidance to anticipation? The answer was made abundantly clear to me through one word – perspective. The first two times I read Deuteronomy I was allowing my flesh to act as the commentary on its meaning. The third time, however, I asked the Holy Spirit to take control and bring this book to life. Well, the Spirit moved and began to open this wonderful book in a whole new way.
Without even knowing it I invoked one of the myriad of special verses from Deuteronomy as my request to God. Dotted throughout God’s word are many special “challenge” verses which God hopes we will take Him up on. One such verse is (Deuteronomy 4:29): “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” This was my heart’s cry and when I sincerely asked God to reveal Himself through this portion of the Scriptures He did not disappoint me.
When I had finished reading Deuteronomy this third time I stood back and reflected upon what had just happened. All I could say to myself and the Lord was if He could make this book explode with excitement and allow me to see the incredible storehouse of riches and blessings within its pages then I must elevate His word with the highest praises.
This experience was a watershed moment in my Christian walk. From that point on my entire perspective on the Bible was radically changed. I now enter these sacred pages asking God to show me the deep meanings in every verse, and expecting Him to answer. My perspective before was all wrong. I tried to use my mind and flesh to understand things that only the Holy Spirit within me can reveal. Now I can experientially understand why the psalmist proclaimed: “I rejoice at Thy word, as one who finds great spoil.” (Psalm 119:162).
My sincere prayer is that these few observations will make Bible reading a special joy to your soul and an activity you eagerly look forward to on a daily basis.
1 Francis Chan Quotes (Author of Crazy Love) (page 5 of 26) (goodreads.com)