“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12).

No book is as powerful as the Bible. The reason for this is that the Bible is not your ordinary book. It is the inspired revelation of God’s will to mankind (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Often you hear stories about folks who were atheists or skeptics who decided to delve deeply into God’s Word in an effort to prove that it is not what it claims to be. They spend weeks and months digging into it and when they are finished they have been converted and become faithful Christians. That’s the type of power that one can find within its pages. The honest heart cannot resist its power when they give it a fair reading. After all, in Romans 1:16, Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Truly, there is power in the gospel and it is the power to change hearts and transform lives.

Having said all of this, I read a very interesting survey taken by many people (over one thousand) professing to be Christians. 74 percent of them claimed that they believed the Bible remains the one and only authoritative spiritual guide for man today. Obviously you would like to see this percentage higher than it is but it’s still a decent number. Here is what really surprised me. Of those taking the
survey, 54 percent said that they believed regular Bible reading (away from the church building) is important for the spiritual life all Christians. Only 48 percent say that they actually do read their Bibles at times other than the worship assemblies. This means that of the professing Christians surveyed only a little over half believe that regular in the home Bible study is vital for their spiritual lives and less than half take the time do it.

While these are sad statistics, they are also very interesting ones. Those surveyed were members of “Protestant” denominations. However, I would not be in the least surprised to find that they mirror closely the circumstances within the Lord’s church. These are folks who believe in salvation, the inspiration and importance of the Bible, and yet they place very low priority on actually reading it.
They revere the Bible, they just don’t use it much. Does this sound familiar?

No doubt much of the problem comes down to time constraints. Sometimes it seems as though we really don’t have any down time during the day to read our Bibles. What about the mother who has to deal with small children all day long? Those children need nearly constant care and attention and there just aren’t very many free moments during the day. What about the man who rises early in the
morning and doesn’t get home until the evening as he seeks to support his family? He’s tired when he comes home from work and his mind is not really in a position to focus. He just wants to eat his dinner, take a hot shower, and relax after a hard day’s work. Even I struggle to find time to just sit down and study the Bible for my own personal nourishment. Although I spend hours in it every day I do so searching for timely subjects for sermons, topics for bulletin articles, Bible class material, putting together handouts to take to non Christians, putting material together for the website, and so on. There’s not much time, or energy, for Bible study for the sole purpose of personal growth when all is done for the day. How are we to deal with this so that we do not fall into the category of those who revere the Bible but seldom use it?

A few years ago I was discussing this problem with a former elder in another congregation. He is one of the finest Christian men that I know. He told me that at one time in his life he went through the same problem. His job was very demanding and he just could not find the time or energy to study his Bible. He found a very simple solution. He began to set the alarm on his clock ten minutes earlier. He would get up, go through his everyday morning routine, and finish with an extra ten minutes. Instead of getting to work ten minutes earlier than normal, he used those ten minutes to read a Bible chapter twice. He did this daily, including Saturday and even Sunday. Very soon he noticed that his Bible knowledge was increasing considerably. He even began to take notes as he studied in the morning. Today, this man is one of the most knowledgeable and wise students of the Bible that I know. Today he is retired and spends hours in the Bible every day. Yet it all started with his setting his alarm back just ten minutes.

We can do what he did. God does not demand that we spend an hour or two studying His Word each day. He does want us to do spend some time with it, however. Why not give yourself just an extra ten minutes in the morning. If you spend it as Ed did, and are diligent in doing so, you’ll be amazed at how far you can go in such a short time.

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