Neglecting God's Word Hurts...

You show me a professing Christian who isn’t disciplining himself to study God’s Word and I’ll show you a person who is just going through motions of religious activity.

People sometimes will say, ‘I just don’t get anything out of worship on Sunday mornings.’ Many times they are not getting anything from Sunday mornings because they are neglecting God’s Word throughout the week.

If a person isn’t studying God’s Word throughout the week it’s not surprising they are not excited about worshiping God on Sunday mornings. When you come to worship on Sunday mornings it’s about you expressing your love for God and how can any of us really love someone we don’t know that well?

If I am picking up a stranger from an airport, the way I respond when that stranger gets off the plane is very different than the way I respond when my wife gets off the plane. I’m polite when greeting a stranger, but with my wife, I’m much more than polite. I’m itching to see her walk down the runway, and I’m running up there and almost knocking her over when she does to give her a hug. Why? One word: relationship. I know her and I love her, thus I long to see her.

We get to know God primarily through Scripture and it’s by knowing God through Scripture that we grow to love Him. If you don’t make a habit of studying Scripture, you are only going to know God at best in a superficial, stranger sort of way and so while you may be polite to Him, you aren’t going to love Him the way you should.

You show me a professing Christian who isn’t studying God’s Word on a regular basis and I’ll show you a person who is making major mistakes in life.

If I try to walk across a room filled with obstacles in the pitch black, I’m not surprised if I run into things and even stumble and fall. And in the same way if a person isn’t digging into the Word I’m not surprised when he keeps tripping and falling as he goes about trying to live his life. The world we live in is filled with obstacles and it’s difficult to navigate those in the dark.

Let me get a little more specific. If I meet husbands and wives who aren’t running to Scripture to learn how to be a husband and wives I’m not surprised if they are also having major struggles in their marital relationship. How could you possibly be the kind of husband God wants you to be when you aren’t digging into what He says about the kind of husband He wants you to be?

If I meet parents who aren’t running to Scripture to learn how to parent, who don’t take advantage of learning from the Scripture, who are kind of apathetic about it, I’m not surprised when they have major struggles with their children. I’m sorry, but I’m not shocked. In order to be the kind of parent God wants us to be, we have to get into the Word, we have to study, we have to work. Otherwise we’ll end up just parenting like the world.

You show me a professing Christian who isn’t studying God’s Word on a regular basis and I’ll show you a person who is likely to fall to temptation.

If a soldier goes to battle without a weapon, it’s not surprising when he gets wounded. It’s more surprising if he doesn’t. Spiritually we are involved in a war. If we don’t use the weapon of God’s Word, the fact is, we are likely to lose. It’s difficult enough to say no to sin when you are grounded in the Word, it’s close to impossible if you are lazy when it comes to Bible study.

You show me a professing Christian who isn’t studying God’s Word on a regular basis and I’ll show you a person who is very susceptible to false teaching.

It’s amazing the things people say the Bible says. It’s even more amazing the things people are willing to believe the Bible says that it doesn’t say.

I remember hearing of a woman who sincerely believed if she walked around something seven times and prayed about it, God would give her whatever that particular object was. Why did she believe that? Somebody told her Scripture taught that. Why did she believe Scripture taught that? She didn’t know Scripture.

If someone says to you they aren't sure taking time to study Scripture on a regular basis is worth the cost, remind them that the truth of the matter is they can't afford not to!