July 15, 2019

 

Over the past week I have been spending much time considering the place that God’s Word has in the lives of believers. Any evangelical Christian would claim that they believe the Bible to be the Word of God; however, I wonder how many of us truly believe that. Why do some Christians neglect the study of the Word of God? Why do they call themselves Christians, yet have no deep desire to seek the face of God through the Scriptures? I submit that it all has to do with one’s perception of God.

 

As A.W. Tozer once said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” What place does God have in your life? I believe that many Christians consider God to be more iconic and distant than personal and intimate. Certainly, God is sovereign and transcendent, but he has immanently and intimately offered himself to be known. He has revealed himself specifically through the person of Jesus Christ and through the Bible. But if this is true why would people who call themselves Christians ignore Bible study? Again, I believe this all has to do with our perception of God. I believe that Christians ignore God’s Word because in their hearts they do not truly view him as God and Lord. He is something other than what the Bible reveals him to be. Many people have a concept of God that they worship, but if they are honest with themselves, they do not truly know the God of the Bible. The Bible is not very important to them because knowing God is not that important. Some Christians only open their Bible’s when they want to feel comforted or when they’re scared. They treat God like he is their servant and they expect him to meet their needs and give them a good life. Their prayers are like those who James addresses in James 4:2-4 when he states, “You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” These people only prayed when they needed God to satisfy their selfish desires. Their view of God was a diminished one. They did not view him in his rightful place as the sovereign Lord whom they should submit their lives to.

 

The reason people do not engage the Word of God is because they do not consider God to be infinite, omnipotent, or intimate. If people don’t see God as infinite they may eventually reach a place where they think they know enough about God to get by. Why bother with studying the Bible if they have all the “important stuff”? These people fail to realize that God is infinite and cannot be fully known. Those who fail to see God as omnipotent may believe that he does not have the power to sustain them in life’s circumstances. This leads to a struggle in trusting God. Finally, others do not see God as intimate. They see God at a distance and fail to recognize his desire to be intimately involved in our lives. Without faithful study of the Word a person will never experience true spiritual intimacy with God.

 

A wrong view of God also leads to a wrong view of the Bible. People approach the Bible as if it is a book a rules or religious principles. But the Bible is a grand meta-narrative of God revealing himself. The Bible is not about us, it is about God. When we study the Bible with the attitude “What is in it for me?” or “How can the Bible help me today?” we have a misconception of Scripture. Eventually, many of these people give up Bible study because when they study it they don’t “feel” any different. They expect some life-altering truth to just grip them but then most of time they don’t get what they expected. This is because the Bible is not about them, it is about God. God is infinite in all things and he has revealed himself to us through the pages of Scripture so that we may know him. Without being faithful to the Bible there will be no intimate fellowship with God. You cannot know God by simply knowing facts about him. You cannot know God through any other means except through his revelation (the Bible). Your relationship with the Scriptures will mirror your relationship with Christ. He loves you and he wants you to know him and his love, but you have to consider him worthy enough of your heart’s desire. You must pursue him through his revelation if he is to reveal himself to you. Commit yourself to knowing him more today!