God's Word

How important for you is reading the Bible? Many people have a regular time for prayer - possibly early morning or late in the evening. Sometimes, often with the use of Bible Reading Notes, we read through a small portion of the Bible. But how satisfied are we with this? I think most of us skip quickly through the passage, thinking that we already know it; or if we don't know it, then it can't be that important. However, if we are to get value (ie be fed) from what we are doing, we need to slow down. The best way to slow down is to read the Bible aloud. Reading aloud stops us skipping those parts of the text that we think we know so well. It gives us time to reflect. And the Bible was written to be read aloud! This small change is often enough to change our reading of the Bible from a chore to a delight. We also need to understand how important reading the Bible is. We know that God's ultimate self-revelation is in Jesus. The Bible is the written testimony to Jesus, and so is the primary source of our knowledge of God. It is God speaking to us - God's word. In our "quiet time", if we want to hear from God then reading the Bible is essential.