If You're A Christian You Should Be Reading Your Bible

Where the Bible is concerned, people have really been missing the point.  I've both heard and read about how people have been using the Bible to justify themselves, condemn others and control just about everyone in-between.  But, from the things that I've been hearing and reading, it seems that a great many haven't actually read the Bible.  And a significant percentage of the ones that haven't are calling themselves Christians, or, at least claiming Christian beliefs.  In the face of Christ's admonition concerning Scripture, that seems a little off, don't you think?

"Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testified of Me." - John 5:39


And, as if an admonition from Christ Himself is not enough, there are other passages of Scripture that, at the very least, suggest that any spiritual guidance that isn't coming directly from the hand or mouth God Himself should be coming from or based on Scripture.  I mean, if Christ relied on Scripture to this extent when He was tempted, why should Christians rely on it any less? 

"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." - Isaiah 8:20


"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward an hungered.  And when the tempter came to Him, He said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.  But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.  Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto Him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee: and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.  Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.  Again, the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto Him, All these things will I give Thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." - Matthew 4:1-10

If Christ Himself used Scripture alone to face down the devil, who are we to do otherwise?  What puts us in a position to look anywhere else for spiritual guidance?  Now, don't get me wrong.  This by no means makes prayer any less important.  The Bible acknowledges the importance of prayer.  But then, you do have to read the Bible in order to see and understand the importance of prayer.  In fact, you have to read the Bible to understand the importance of worship and praise as well.  In the Bible are the standards, set by God Himself, for all facets of relationship with Him, as well as the requirements of salvation.  Now, I don't know about anyone else, but, I'm at a bit of a loss to understand why it is that there are so many Christians who have not or do not read the Bible when in it is contained the knowledge necessary to be a Christian, to say nothing of the knowledge of what being a Christian really means.

If there were more Christians who actually read what the Bible says, Christianity, as it is currently understood by the public at large, would be very different.  Now, just to be clear, I'm not speaking against preaching, nor am I advocating not listening to anyone engaged in the act.  Preaching the Gospel is highly acknowledged as a ministry in Scripture.  But, even in the face of having the Gospel preached to us, we are admonished by example to search Scripture for the truth of what's been preached.

"And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.  These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." - Acts 17:10, 11

All that being said, given the examples that are throughout Scripture, why is it that there are so many Christians that have not and do not read the Bible?  If the Bible is indeed the source of an informed faith, why is it so largely unread by those who claim the faith?

I've been through the Bible more than once.  If people claiming belief in Christ read the Bible more than they do now, Christianity would be a very different religion.  The opinion of society at large of Christianity as a religion and a community would be very different.

If you're a Christian, you should be reading your Bible.