A Call to Bible Reading

I was reading The Pursuit of God, by A.W. Tozer, and some of his quotes really stood out to me.

"We read our chapter, have our short devotions and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting or listening to another thrilling story told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar.

The tragic results of this spirit are all about us: shallow lives, hollow religious philosophies, the preponderance of the element of fun in gospel meetings, the glorification of men, trust in religious externalities, quasi-religious fellowships, salesmanship methods, the mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the Spirit.  These and such as these are the symptoms of an evil disease, a deep and serious malady of the soul."

This is a problem in our current Christians society.  We have an empty faith, no true relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  We care more about ourselves and our pursuits than we do about the Lord.  This is the crisis in the Kingdom of God.  We do not have a personal relationship with our Savior.  Oh, we say that we know Him, we utter prayers every now and then, we read a chapter every day or so --but do we really know Him?  Do we know Him like we know the President, or do we know Him like we would know someone in our immediate family?  Here's the test:

“He who does not long to know more of Christ, knows nothing of Him yet.” -Charles Spurgeon

"Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him." -1 John 2:3-5

Our generation is lost, even though we claim to be Christians.  We are in the dark, although we are saved by the Light.

We must rend our hearts and turn from our evil way (Joel 2:13) to the Lord our God, if we expect this to change.  If we want vibrant lives that are on fire for the Lord, we must pore over the Word, giving ourselves entirely to it (1 Timothy 4:15).  The Scriptures must become our passion, our only pursuit.

Spend hours in them, studying the truths that lie within.  Live in them.

“Holy Scripture requires searching—much of it can only be learned by careful study.”

That one chapter a day of Scripture reading isn't going to work.  If we want to be like Christ, we must spend time getting to know Him, becoming intimate with His soul.  We must study His words.

Instead of spending all your free time on social media, I encourage you to give yourself to the Lord for the next few weeks.  Set aside 3-4 hours to spend in God's Word each day, reading it, studying it, memorizing it.  Watch how, without really even trying, the Word shapes and changes you.  This is because it is living and active (Hebrews 4:12).  Even though you may not love God's Word right now, or think it more valuable than gold (Psalm 19:10), as you spend time buried deep in its pages, you will find out what Job meant when he said, "I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food" (Job 23:12).

I agree completely with Spurgeon when he said,

“We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in his service.”