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There you are, with your Bible open, reading away. You’re seeing new things. You’re discovering a couple of cool cross-references. You’re doing what the leadership at your church tell you to about once every four sermons. You’re doing what Christians should do.
You’re doing your devotional time.
And you’re in great danger.
After all, today’s evangelicals are not the first to study the Scriptures diligently.
Jesus’ fiercest enemies did, too.
I find Jesus’ words in John 5 v 39-40 some of the most chilling in the whole Bible:
“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
Did the Pharisees do their devotional times? Yes. Probably more often and for longer duration than you or me. Did the Pharisees have eternal life? No. Why? Because they thought that the Scriptures gave them eternal life. And the Scriptures don’t. And because they thought that the Scriptures gave them eternal life, they did not come to Jesus.
They knew their Bibles, but they did not know a Saviour. They had great Scripture knowledge, but they did not have eternal life.
These verses are a great reminder that when we answer the question “How am I doing as a Christian?” we default to thinking about our personal prayer and Bible study, we’re in danger. If Bible-reading is all we check up with our friends about in terms of their spiritual health, then we’re not helping them. It’s why in Spiritual Healthcheck, there are six ways to diagnose the real health of your faith—and none of them are “Are you doing your devotional time?”. And it’s why it points you to six God-given ways to grow stronger in your faith—and only one of them is to do with Bible reading.
See, Jesus doesn’t want you to read your Bible. He wants you to meet with him. He doesn’t want you to love your Bible. He wants you to grow in love for him.
If you let the Bible point you to Jesus, that’s when you grow. It is very easy to read the Bible intellectually, for more understanding; or morally, to live better; or mechanically, because we’ve been told that Bible reading will help our faith. None of these ways are wrong—but on their own, they’re dangerous. Supremely, we need to read the Bible relationally—to meet with Jesus. If we read it to meet him, speak with him as we read, praise him as we understand, love him as we see his love for us—then we grow.
You’ve done your devotional time. And now you’ve closed your Bible, and…
In ten minutes’ time, everything you saw of Jesus may have vanished from your head and be seeping out of your heart.
The Scriptures regularly encourage us to “meditate” on God’s word. There’s a reason for that. We need to. We need consciously bring to mind, think about, chew on, and enjoy all over again what we have seen of the Lord Jesus in his word. I find it so easy to read my Bible in the morning, (hopefully) meet with Jesus, and then not think about him again until… well, until the next morning.
So why not set two alarms? Set them for ten minutes, and for ten hours, after you finish your devotional time (unless ten hours falls in the middle of the night). And when the alarm goes, take a minute to meditate on what you saw of Jesus in your personal Bible study and prayer. You’ll meet with him all over again. You’ll speak with him, praise him, love him. That’s how we get healthy, and stay healthy, as Christians.
Carl is Editorial Director at The Good Book Company and is a member of Grace Church Worcester Park, London. He is the best-selling author of The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross and God's Big Promises Bible Storybook, and also serves as series editor of the God's Word for You series. Before joining TGBC, he worked as a journalist and then as a teacher, and pastored a congregation in Hull. Carl is married to Lizzie, and they have two children. He studied history at Oxford University.
