Summary: The Bible is more than the Word of God. It is God’s words to you. It is the primary listening part of the communication in your relationship with Jesus. Prayer is your speaking part. This is made possible because the same Holy Spirit who wrote the Bible, lives in and directs a Christian’s heart to the passages of the Bible that they need to hear at that moment. We should treat our relationship with Jesus as a spiritual marriage to Him. This view on our spiritual relationship will guide us through the questions of how often and with what heart we should read the Bible.
Part 1: What is the Bible
The Book itself.
The Bible is the central book in our Christian circles, and its cover is one of the most easily recognized in the world. How many other leather bound books do you have? Do any of your books have gold edges? How many other 1,500 page books do you have? It is clearly special. But are the pages really the special part? We recognize verses that we hear in church, at sporting events and on billboards. What about the rest? This question drove me to ask on a deeper level what the Bible really is.
The Bible is not merely God’s Word, but God’s words to us.
The Bible is a lifetime’s worth of conversation from our Creator to us. The Bible is not simply a book. It is a compilation of God’s voice to us. All scripture was written under the direction of the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16), and as a Christian, that same Holy Spirit lives inside of us. He guides us (John 16:13) to the parts of the passage that we need to hear. This is why when we read, we see different important verses in the same chapter of the Bible. All of us are in unique stages of life and the Holy Spirit peaks our interest to different areas. This makes the Bible not just a true book, but a living and active (Hebrews 4:12) way for God to talk to us.
One night several years ago, with a small group of Christians, I asked everyone to read the account of Jesus with the woman at the well (John 4) and then share one thing that they took away from it. In our group of 8 people, there was not one overlapping point. This was God breathed focus on what we individually needed to hear at that moment. Some saw Jesus’ compassion, others their own lives in the woman’s past. Some wanted to know what living water was, and another was motivated by the woman’s excitement to share what Jesus was doing in her life. What about in your life? Have you ever read, or heard of someone that has been reading the Bible for a while and see a passage in a new way? This is the Holy Sprit emphasizing a point that was needed at that moment in time and not in the past. Let the Spirit lead you as you read in the Bible.
How Should I interact with the Bible?
As the Bible is God’s words to us, we must ask how we should take in these words. Should we approach it like a podcast where we listen only? Maybe God is a motivational speaker, where we check in for an inspirational quote in the morning or when we are emotionally low. While these both would provide benefit, they miss a deeper value. When Christians commit their lives to Jesus they enter into a relationship with Him. Any good relationship requires two way communication. God’s words to us through the Bible is one side of the conversation. The other side comes when we speak back to Him. You can say something out loud, have a silent intentional prayer or write your words down. In this way, you will be responding to what God is saying to you at that moment.
