“The very practice of reading the Bible will have a purifying effect upon your mind and heart. Let nothing take the place of this daily exercise.” Billy Graham

“The primary purpose of reading the Bible is not to know the Bible but to know God.” James Merritt

“The Bible was not given for our information but for our transformation.” D.L. Moody

On the American Campfire Revival, Kirk Cameron read a quote from the 1700s by Sam Adams. In his quote, Adams talked about a dangerous trend taking root in our schools – too many textbooks. By today’s standards, it sounds senseless to call textbooks “dangerous” because what else would teachers teach from. Adams explained that textbooks were replacing the Bible, which was a dangerous drift to using books influenced by an author’s beliefs as opposed to using the book influenced by God. 

I had forgotten that children used to be taught from the Bible. I think I watched it happen on the television show “Little House on The Prairie.” The practice seemed outdated as long ago as 45 years. I imagine it’s not even crossed the mind of a lot of today’s parents that their children should be taught in schools from the Bible. In fact, many oppose it.       

Our Founding Fathers, alongside other wise men and women, believed history was all about His story. All about the Bible, and they considered it the comprehensive book for life.   

My pastor says it during almost every sermon, “Read your Bible.” 

Prophet Jim Reilly says the same thing at every meeting I attend, “Read your Bible.” 

Kirk Cameron reminds us during his American Campfire Revival, “Read your Bible.”

When I listen to their teachings, it’s obvious these men spend extended amounts of time reading and studying their Bibles. If I want what they have, I have to do what they do – not just talk about it. 

I used to try to make it sound like I read my Bible. The truth was that I counted on Sunday morning sermons and an annual six-week Bible study to be enough. Until last year, I had never read the entire Bible. 

I have a couple of friends who admitted they did the same thing. They posted quotes on social media about reading the Bible and how you should do it, but they didn’t actually read it themselves. That made me feel better, but I’m not sure why. We all needed to be reading it, not lying about it. 

When I alluded to reading the Bible even though I really wasn’t, I did it because it made me feel closer to reaching my goal without having to do the work. It sounded virtuous except it wasn’t true, so how virtuous was it really? I felt good telling people I was reading my Bible because I really wanted to, but not bad enough to commit and do it. 

The way I justified lying was I planned to start tomorrow. Always tomorrow. If I made it through a few days of reading, I justified taking a break because it didn’t make any sense. Reading the Bible was like reading a foreign language. Self-help books made more sense and seemed more useful even though I never got better, but that’s another thing I lied about … mainly to myself. I was always getting better, but not really. 

It wasn’t until I heard Lysa TerKeurst, Christian author and founder of Proverbs 31 Ministries, admit the Bible didn’t always make sense to her, but she said something else too, “Read your Bible anyway. God will bless your efforts and He’ll help you understand it if you stick with it.” 

So, I did. And I still am because we don’t just read the Bible once. And she was right, God helped and brought others into my life to help too. 

I’m happy to talk to anyone who is as frustrated as I was. I promise that if you stick with it, it’s life-saving and life-changing and life-giving.  

In This Together,
Kim