Someone was sharing with me the other day about their struggle with anxiety and how paralyzed they were getting. I listened while they explained the pressures they were under and the real worry involved. Some were related to business risk and others from their kids. After hearing their story, I put forward a question from a book I was reading: "What place does the Bible have in your life and what role do you want it to play?" The response from them was roughly what I thought it would be, given all the stuff circling in their life. But the subject itself is extremely important for every believer to answer rightly.
The Bible Speaks to Everything
Struggles that people face are complicated at times and there's not a one size fits solution. However the Bible is the one thing that does speak to everything in all of us. But, "learning to think about life in an organized, biblical manner requires effort, prayer, practice, and reliance on the Holy Spirit of God." When believers think about their Bible and the role it should play in their life many respond like this anxious person did, by saying they need to read it more.
Is it important that you read your Bible? Yes, and while Bible reading for a believer is Christianity 101 there was something very elementary that this distraught person was overlooking: he may have been reading the Bible, but the struggle came to believing the Bible.
The older I get the more passion I have for the Bible; which is odd because I remember being a 20 year old who was completely intimidated by the God's word. The expression for me now is "awe!" This is tricky to communicate because some might read this and say, "Oh he's just a Bible thumper." I may be that in a comparative sense but I believe a more accurate description is that I'm a Bible emphasizer. This is the distinction I want to draw. What the Bible says is stunning and transcendent but what the Bible says about itself is the anvil I'm attempting to drop in your lap. Ranking is what I'm after. Why? Because the Bible says it matters.
Think Weighty Bible Thoughts
Have you ever paused long enough to consider a verse like Isaiah 40:8? "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever." Stand forever? God's word is going to stand forever? That is like a blinding white light when you compare it to anything that has ever been in the possession of humans since the beginning of time.
Or how about Matthew 24:35 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." The heavens and earth will pass away before the words contained in my bonded leather Bible will? Think about the shear tonnage of planets and stars there are in the countless galaxies that the Hubble Telescope has uncovered. They will fade away but John 3:16 will stand beyond them.
Psalm 19:7 puts forth a word that we've become desensitized to. The word is perfect. Perfect is a throwaway word in our culture. I don't even know how to stir anyone to consider this about the Bible but if you could stop and meditate on the fact that God's word is perfect! Spend five minutes with that thought and it will numb you with admiration.
The Bible Demands Reverence
How many times have you looked at the Bible with the same magnitude of reverence it demands? The Bible is most life changing when you examine its great worth before your great need. Is God bigger than your Bible? Yes! But the biggest thought you will ever have about God will never exceed what has already been written about Him in his word. It changes the outcome when we operate from the right premise. Believing and reading our Bible does not guarantee what we struggle with will go away. It will remind us of God and how he will sustain us.
How many times have you looked at the Bible with the same magnitude of reverence it demands?
I cannot overstate how critical it is to immerse oneself in the Scriptures. If you don't believe what you read in the Bible, you will have little growth in your pure reading of the Bible. Bible reading is an act of faith. What you will more than likely achieve is more exhaustion and frustration because you'll be reading with the wrong foundation. You see in the end the Bible actually does have something to say about anxiousness and worry. The question for all of us to answer is, "Do you believe it's true?" Read the Bible through the lens of truth and your life will follow.
