The Bible: Dig in! #LEVELUPCCW

As Christians, we would all agree that we should be reading and studying our bibles. We should all be “bible literate.” But there is a dirty little secret in the family of God, and that is that many professing Christians spend very little time in the word of God. A recent survey found that:

• Readership of the Bible has declined from the 1980s overall, from 73% to 59% today. 
• The percentage of those who read the Bible at least once a week, has decreased slightly over the last decade, from 40% in 1990 to 37% today.
• About one American in seven reports an involvement that goes beyond reading the Bible. 
• Fourteen percent currently belong to a Bible study group.
• In terms of frequency of readership, 16% of Americans say that they read the Bible every day, 21% say they read it weekly, 12% say they read the Bible monthly, 10% say less than monthly and 41% say that they rarely or never read the Bible.

Those are some harsh stats.   Why do people not regard the bible as an important book to invest in?  Perhaps because it's one of those disciplines that can be easy to set on the back burner for a multitude of reasons:  I’m too busy; it’s too hard to understand; I listen to sermons on Sunday, etc.

But the question has to be asked:  So what? So what if Christians don't read their bibles?  Is it really that big of a deal? The answer is – YES!  There is an impact to not being in the word; Arrested Spiritual Development, which is another way of saying spiritual immaturity.  Arrested Spiritual Development (ASD) has many symptoms:

• Rash and inappropriate reactions to situations in life.
• The tendency to make poor decisions
• Inability to apply sound principles to life situations

 As an example, imagine two soldiers standing in formation:  Both have uniforms, equipment, and weapons. They look the same standing there in line. But when the bullets start flying, the one that has not taken part in the physical conditioning, or the combat training, that soldier will fall.  Those two soldiers might look the same, but they will no respond the same in battle. 

ASD is not a new malady; the writer of Hebrews gave a similar assessment of his audience:

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. (Heb 5:12-13)

That writer might be describing the Christian sitting in church today, raising their hands to praise the Lord, knowing the Christian platitudes, even having the bumper sticker, but that Christian is still a babe when it comes to the oracles of God. That Christian looks just like every other Christian, but when the bullets start to fly, how will they respond?

If someone cuts in front of them in line - what is their response?

When something doesn't go their way – how do they act?

When they are faced with the temptation to cut a corner to get ahead – what is their choice?

Or when one the huge storms of life hits – will they stand or fall?

When we have the truth of Gods word imbedded into our hearts and our minds, our responses begin to align with how God would respond to those situations. We will know how to act.  We will know how to make wise decisions.  We will be trained to instinctively respond to any situation that presents itself in our life. 

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:16-17)

Join us this Sunday for “The Bible; dig in!”  #LevelupCCW

… till the whole world hears,

Pastor Clay