One of the most striking findings in the 2019 Discipleship Pathway Assessment, a study conducted by LifeWay Research in January 2019, is that a sizable percentage of people who regularly attend Protestant churches do not regularly read the Bible. The results of the study, which were released on July 2, show that only 32% of Americans who attend a church regularly read the Bible personally every day.
In addition, 27% of the respondents stated that they read the Bible a few times a week, while 12% said that they read the Bible only once a week, and 12% admitted that they rarely or never read the Bible. That’s one-quarter of the people surveyed, who attend Protestant churches regularly, who hardly ever open the Bible and read it.
Way back in 1997, the New York Times conducted a similar poll, and their survey showed that 93% of respondents had at least one Bible in the home, but only 33% read the Bible at least once a week. In that same poll, 54% could not name the four gospels, and 10% thought that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife! (If you need to, you can stop reading this long enough to google “Joan of Arc.”)
I want to encourage you, if you’re not already doing so, to start reading your Bible on a regular basis. When we spend time in the Bible, God speaks to us through his word, giving us understanding and guidance and his presence in a supernatural way. As we consistently read the Bible, we grow in our knowledge of God and in our love for God, and we grow in our understanding of his love for us. The act of reading the Bible is a supernatural act, and as we read regularly, as we spend time with God regularly, he supernaturally shapes us and helps us become all that he calls us to be.
I need the Bible so that I not only believe correctly but so that I behave the way I should. When my kids were little, we went to a certain restaurant and my daughter ordered a hamburger without onions. They brought her a hamburger covered in onions. Of course, we straightened it out. The next time we went there, she again ordered a hamburger without onions, and once again they brought her a hamburger covered in onions. The third time we went there, she ordered, you guessed it, a hamburger without onions. And for our third straight visit to this restaurant, they brought out a hamburger with lots of onions.
I don’t have to tell you exactly how I felt, but let’s be nice and just say that some very bad thoughts ran through my mind, and they were really trying to make their way out of my mouth. But I didn’t say them. Why? Well, for one thing, I remembered Proverbs 29:11, “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.” I knew that verse because I had just read it that morning.
The other reason I stopped myself is because I realized that I was wearing a t-shirt that had the name of my church on it. I really hated that crummy t-shirt that day.
I want to encourage you, if you aren’t reading the Bible regularly, start the habit. I promise you it will change you, and for the better!
You don’t have to spend three hours each day reading the Bible. If you only have 15 minutes to start with, just start with 15 minutes and grow it from there. Consistency, at least at the beginning, is more important than the amount of time you spend. When time with God reaches the point of being a habit for you, then you should increase the amount of time you spend each day, but 15 minutes is a great place to start.
For years I taught people how to have a Daily Quiet Time. If this isn’t a part of your life, I encourage you to start today! Here are some really easy steps you can take that will help make this a regular part of your life:
1. Select A Specific Time
Set a specific time on your daily calendar and don’t miss the appointment. Imagine it was a scheduled meeting with the President; you surely wouldn’t miss that! Only in this case, the person you’re meeting with here is much more important than any president.
2. Choose A Specific Place
No matter where you do this, choose the place and go to that place each day at your scheduled time. Pick a place where you can be free of interruptions and distractions.
3. Gather The Resources You’ll Need
a. A Bible in a readable translation. I love the New Living Translation and the English Standard Version, but choose a translation that you can understand and is easily read by you.
b. A notebook (or a spiritual journal) and pen. We’ll talk about why in just a moment, but here’s a bit of advice: in my quiet time, I am constantly being distracted by things I need to do that day. I think that Satan wants to distract me from hearing God by pounding my brain with my to-do list. Whenever a thought like that comes to mind, I just pause, write it down, and go right back to what I was doing.
c. A teachable spirit. “If you stop learning, you will forget what you already know,” Proverbs 19:27, CEV). You must be open to anything God wants to teach you.
4. Follow A Simple Plan
Here’s a really simple, 15-minute plan that I was taught many years ago:
Relax (1 minute) – get rid of all other thoughts; take a few deep breaths and ask God to speak to you as you read, ask him to help you understand what you’re about to read, and thank him for the opportunity to spend time with him.
Read (4 minutes) – If you don’t know where to start in the Bible, start with the book of John, or maybe James. Read a chapter each day, or read a section or paragraph each day. You can even just read until something stands out to you. Or start in the book of Proverbs and read one chapter a day for 31 straight days. The important thing is to have a plan in place before you even start and follow that plan consistently until all of this becomes a habit.
Reflect (4 minutes) – focus on what the passage is saying; is there a sin, or a promise, or a command, or a truth or something to be thankful for in this passage?
Record (2 minutes) – write down what you feel God said to you in the passage, what you said to God in response, and what specifically you will do as a result.
Request (4 minutes) – Any relationship is only as strong as its communication. Confess your sins, praise God for who He is, thank God for what He’s done, pray for your prayer requests, and pray what you wrote down to say to God.
That’s a really simple start to help you get into the habit of having a regular time alone with God. As you grow, you’ll change what you do each day and probably spend more than 15 minutes, but the important thing is that, if you’re one of the 68% of American church-goers who don’t read the Bible every day, get started!
Remember what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:36a: “Give me an eagerness for your decrees…” Ask God to help you want to spend time with him in his word. He will not let you down.