Week 4 | Friday

Commitment Day

How do we read the Bible? Not like, how should we read the Bible, but how do real people engage with God’s word in ways that resonate with them? Figuring out the best way to read the Bible is a process. Find yours by talking with others about their successes, struggles, hang-ups, and habits.

It’s amazing what you can find online. The American Bible Society did a major research project to identify trends in Bible engagement in the United States in 2022. The bottom line? We are under-engaged. (You can access data here.)

There’s hope. The two biggest reasons people provided for not engaging with the Bible are that they don’t have time and don’t know where to start. Time is a matter of intentionality. If you care enough about something, you will make time for it. Maybe that sounds a little too simple and, frankly, too direct. It’s not. We care the most about the things we give our time to. Suppose you care about watching your favorite football team play. In that case, you work your Saturday, Sunday, or Monday schedule around those games. If you care about hitting that New Year’s resolution of losing ten pounds, you will make time for your choice of torture (aka, exercise).

We want to care about the things we do. We understand the value of things, so we hold them in high regard. Then life creeps in, and we allow other things to take priority. So, we steal time from stuff we care about to get by. What do we do about that? Instead of allowing your life to run over your schedule, schedule your commitments and reclaim your life. Sometimes, you have to say “no” to the good things so you can say “YES” to the best things.

Don’t know where to start? We’ve already spent a lot of time in the Gospels. Pick one and read the whole thing. How about Luke? It’s like the prequel to Acts, which is the story of how the Church started. Once you read those, check out Philippians, Ephesians, and Colossians. Paul fills those letters with all kinds of practical advice for following Jesus! Starting here gives you an excellent road map for transformative Bible reading by answering these questions: Who is Jesus? What happened with his earliest followers? How can I follow him today?