Have you not read? by Lewis Kiger

“Have you not read?” was one of the frequent sayings of our Lord. When confronted with error, He would often reply by asking this question. It was an upright assumption that those who claim to know the will of God would also know the Word of God. Yet the Lord recognized that many who thought themselves to be right with God not only did not know God’s will, but they did not rightly understand God’s Word.

It should be the desire of every born-again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ to know God’s will which is revealed through His Word. We live in an age when we have more access to the Bible than any other group of disciples of Christ. Walk the aisles of the average Christian bookstore and you will find hundreds and hundreds of Bibles to choose from. Dozens and dozens of different versions litter the shelves. I would dare say that the majority of the readers of this paper have multiple copies of the Bible sitting in your home right now.

More than that, we have the Bible in electronic form at our fingertips. Most of us have some kind of Bible App on our phones. We have Bible software on our laptops. And anytime you want to know what the Bible has to say about any subject, all you have to do is “Google it.”

And yet for all that, there is more Biblical illiteracy in America today than ever before. The average church-goer today is not familiar with the Bible. Few of them know the difference between the book of Judges and Jeremiah.

I am going to make what should be a very obvious statement: if you are a Christian, you should love the Bible. At least seven times in Psalm 119 the Psalmist said he loved the law and precepts of God. This is how every believer should feel. Rather than finding reading the Bible a drudgery, we should consider it a delight. 

This book brings us to God. It is the Revelation of God to us. It is His Divine Love, letter drafted in the pages of eternity past, for every one of His children. It will keep us from that which will harm us and bring us into closer fellowship with Him.

Yet I am afraid, that the Very Word of Life, the Bible, is perhaps the most neglected book we own.

Did you know that the average reader, not the exceptional, but just the average reader, can read through the entire Bible in one year; by simply reading 10 minutes a day, every day? Yet every survey done of Evangelicals tells us again and again, that God’s people simply do not read God’s Word. The percentage of confessed believers who have actually read the entire Bible is embarrassingly low. How can we know the mind of God, if we are not familiar with the Word of God?

 

Consider this staggering statistic: if young people would spend just 10 percent of the time reading their Bible that they now spend on electronic media everyday, they could read the entire Bible in just 4 months. But do you realize that those numbers are almost the same for adults?! The average adult today spends hours every day on social media, surfing the internet or some form of electronic media. Yet, we seemingly cannot find 10-15 minutes on a day-by-day basis to familiarize ourselves with what our Creator has said to us.

I do not intend this article to be a sharp rebuke, but an eye-opening encouragement. While it may seem a daunting task, you can read your Bible. Let 2017 be the year that you finally commit yourself in word and deed to reading the blessed entirety of God’s Holy Word.

There is a sanctifying influence to the Word of God that we deny ourselves when we do not have a daily intake of the renewing power of the Word. The Bible will keep you from sin, and sin will keep you from the Bible.

The words of eternal life are found in this Sacred Book. A careful and continued study of the pages of the Bible will lead you to the Person and Work of Christ. Jesus said in John 5:39, “Search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life. And they are they, which testify of me. “

Etched in black and white on the pages of the Bible are the words that are able to make you wise unto salvation. If you do not know Jesus Christ, read the Bible. It will teach you of your Creator and of the dearest friend you could ever have.

Pastor Lewis Kiger

Memorial Heights Baptist Church

svdbygrace2@roadrunner.com