How Much Do You Read Your Bible?
A timely encouragement from R. T. Kendall to invest time in reading the Word of God.
This is the most important Blog I have written in many years. I pray with all my heart that this will be read and spread to ordinary Christians all over the world. I cannot come close in emphasizing how important this particular Blog is.
This ought not to be: Most Christians do not read their Bibles regularly.
I am aiming this Blog at ordinary Christians. My followers are not clergymen or church leaders but laymen – ordinary Christians.
Mrs. Martyn Lloyd-Jones made a gripping observation about C. S. Lewis’ book Screwtape Letters, a brilliant satire that includes among other things how the devil tempts new Christians. She lamented that one huge thing Lewis left out – that should have been put in – was how the devil wants to keep people from reading their Bibles. I do agree; it would have been so helpful had Lewis put that in.
I am convinced that the devil will do anything to keep people from reading their Bibles.
Has the devil succeeded with you? How much do you read your Bible?
This Blog was inspired by a recent trauma I had in Bimini, Bahamas. Perhaps trauma is too strong a word. But what happened was this. I took a brief vacation to do some bonefishing – my only vacation for 2015. When I turned to read my Bible, lo and behold, I had not packed my Bible or diary (which includes my prayer list)! I was sobered. I never leave home without my Bible, but somehow I let that happen. The thought of not getting to read my Bible for three or four days was almost horrifying. I thought: what do people do who don’t have their Bibles?
The Bible is the Final and Ultimate Revelation of Truth. No vision, word of knowledge or insight will ever contradict what the Bible has said.
Do listen to me dear reader. Once we give up the conviction that the Bible is the only infallible Word of God, we open ourselves to a strange world out there that may include the Holy Spirit but also if not equally the realm of the demonic. Do not be surprised: Satan “masquerades” as an angel of light (2 Cor.11:14). The devil will work overtime to keeping Christians from reading the Bible. He would love you to close it and just wait on God.
Whereas the Bible was not given to replace the miraculous or even revelation, as Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones used to say, but “to correct abuses”, too many people don’t know their Bibles well enough to know what the Word of God says. And what the abuses might be. The Bible is the Final and Ultimate Revelation of Truth; no vision, word of knowledge or insight will ever – ever – contradict what the Bible has said. The first test of any vision or prophetic word is to run it by Scripture. If it is not upheld by the infallible Word of God, reject it – no matter how much you may respect the person who gives you a word.
I am grateful in particular for two things in my life. First, my parents taught me to read my Bible daily. This is what they did. The thought of not reading at least a chapter a day in the Bible was out of the question. Second, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones – my chief mentor – introduced me to Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s Bible Reading plan many years ago. As a consequence I think I can say I have read the entire Bible through some forty times and the New Testament eighty times. A Bible Reading Plan “keeps you in the Word”, Dr. Lloyd-Jones used to say to me.
Many preachers only consult their Bibles when they need a sermon. I persuaded a very close friend – a high profile prophetically gifted man – to start reading his Bible. Two years ago he began a plan and read the Bible through for the first time in his life! He could not thank me enough. He was (amazingly) amazed over how much it meant to him!
Why had he not been doing this sooner? You tell me.
Category: Living the Faith, Winter 2016
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