I’m not a legalist (at least, I don’t think so, as I certainly used to be). I don’t think our spiritual disciplines ought to be just “checked boxes” so we say we’ve done them like any good Christian would do. On the other hand, I do think we should be reading the Bible every day. Here’s why:
- We need nourishment every day. The Word of God is “sweeter than honey dripping from the honeycomb” (Psa 19:10), and we need its nutrition every day. Yesterday’s reading is not always enough to carry us through another day.
- The enemy attacks us every day. He doesn’t say to us, “You know, you haven’t read the Bible today, so I’ll back off since you don’t have the sword of the Spirit ready.” He’s not that nice—so we need to be wielding the sword (Eph 6:17) every day.
- We need to put ourselves under God’s teachings every day. Every day will bring new challenges, new temptations, and new threats to God’s Word and His standards. It’s far too easy to listen to the clamor of the world when we’ve not put ourselves in a position to hear the Lord’s voice that day.
- Temptations return every day. Jesus spoke the Word when the devil tempted Him on the mountain, and the devil left him for a while (Luke 4:1-13). Temptation often hits us unexpectantly, and we’re seldom thinking about reading the Bible at that moment. We should be daily reading to be ready for any temptation—as it’s by knowing and obeying the Word that a young man keeps his way pure (Psa 119:9).
- We’re different today than we were yesterday. You might question whether that’s the case, but all of us change and grow in different ways each day. That means that a teaching of the Scripture that may not have caught our attention yesterday somehow drives us to our knees today. The Spirit of God knows when we have ears to hear.
- Daily reading is an indication of our love and dependence on God. That’s what spiritual disciplines are: a cry for relationship with God and a confession of our dependence on Him. When we read the Word, we’re saying, “God, I love you enough that I want to hear from You, and I need You so much that I must hear from You.” Our hearts ought to reverberate with those words every day.
- The Word is our way to counter the ongoing, incessant voices of the world. Let’s face it—it’s hard to find a quiet place where we don’t see and hear the world’s ways. It’s almost as if temptation stares us in the face the moment we wake up . . . every day . . . all the time. The best way to counter those voices is to let the Word truly be “a lamp for my feet and a light on my path” (Psa 119:105). Our feet need that guidance every day.
If reading the Word daily has made a difference in your life, tell us how. Give us some details about your strategy for reading daily. Let’s encourage each other to read the Bible every day.
#8 I get to know the Lord as creator, savior, justice giver, forgiver, friend and I get to know myself as sinner , someone who has been /is forgiven, daughter of God, recipient of so many things as His heir and child.
This was a really good one. My college dorm friend who discipled me to Christ in 1968 both taught & modeled daily Scripture time with the Lord Jesus. I decided to do it too and when I miss a day its like I miss it too much. Those Spirit-breathed words of Sacred Scripture bring my heart and mind to the heart & mind of the Father and the Son where I sense the Spirit’s presence and experience His rebuke, correction, encouragement, comfort, and guidance. I’ve used different strategies over the years. For awhile I read thru the Bible in a year – did that for several years. Then I read a Gospel, Psalm & a Proverb chapter a day. For a few years I searched entire books for information about the Father, the Son, the Spirit, humanity, & the enemy, making copious notes in the margins, underling, and using different colors.. At one point while in the military I memorized Scripture when I had the time and then meditated on them while doing army things. For the past several years I read thru books of the Bible in smaller chunks but more time praying over them – listening for the voice of God with notes in a “diary”. That is my story. Thanks for asking me to share. Cordially yours,
Michael Hampton
Emeritus IMB
Daily reading, and larger chunks in particular, also promotes biblical theology over a proof-text kind of understanding of Scripture. One learns the biblical plot-line better, you get a better grasp of the scope of redemptive history.
Very simply, daily reading has and continues to change my point of view. This applies to all areas of life.