How Do You Read God's Word?

It has been a running joke among Sunday School teachers as long as I can remember, that the correct answer to almost any question asked is "Jesus!"  Knowing the correct answer, however, does not mean we know why it is the correct answer or how to appropriate God's wisdom into our daily decisions.  Believers ought not to be satisfied with the ability to provide a correct answer to a question, as if this means we have nothing more to learn.  Knowing is a start, but walking in light of God's truth is paramount.

A common answer given concerning how believers can foster a closer relationship with God is to read the Bible.  Those who have learned to read likely read many things every day, but the way we read each source of information is different.  As a kid I skipped the front page of the newspaper entirely to find the sports page or comic strips; I scanned textbooks to find the answer to questions for homework.  I have read the ingredients of a packet to ensure it did not contain allergens.  I looked up words in a dictionary to discover the meaning of a word I did not understand.  There is a lot we skip over because it does not seem relevant to us at the time.  When I received a personal note from Laura (who later became my wife) I hungrily consumed every word, reading and re-reading everything again.  It is a good question to consider for ourselves:  how do we read God's word, the Bible?

I am reminded of what Jesus said when He followed on after the Parable of the Sower in Luke 8:16-18:  "No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light. ¹⁷ For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. ¹⁸ Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him."  In the foregoing parable, Jesus compared the word of God to good seed which bears fruit in a humble heart.  A little seed buried in the soil would be evidenced by a plant that bore fruit, and Jesus explained one purpose God has in providing the scripture.  Just as a lamp is lit and placed in a position to provide light, so God's word is to be lived out in faith.  A good tree will be known by its fruit, and those who are genuinely "in the word" will walk according to it.

Jesus said people must "take heed how you hear."  It follows we must take heed how we read the Bible and why we read it:  do we read to find an answer to our questions, to learn doctrinal facts, to prove a point to someone else, for directives to obey or to better know God?  It is a valuable practice to read the Bible, yet unless what we read is combined with faith to obey the word will not be fruitful as it ought to be.  God brings believers into His secret wisdom and knowledge not only for our personal growth but for the purpose of leading others to God.  We ought not to be surprised by the concept of spiritual atrophy.  Those who know much yet practice little will spiritually waste away, whilst those who have received truth from God and walk therein will be provided and entrusted even more divine revelation.

Verse 18 suggests those who might seem to have all the answers may only "seem to have" the truth they proclaim.  That is why the examination of our hearts is so critical, that we do not exchange doctrinal knowledge for spiritual fruitfulness.  The seed sown indiscriminately on hard ground, shallow soil and areas choked with thorns were fruitless because hearts were not willing to receive and obediently walk in it.  Brothers and sisters, take heed how you hear (and read!) because it is assumed believers will read.  If we do not put in practice by faith personally what we read in the Bible, it will not make the fruitful difference it could.