By Kevin Barron
The Bible says in Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”
We preachers appreciate verses like that. Most of us have preached on that verse, and no doubt all of us have quoted it more than once, encouraging the people we pastor to read the Bible and follow what it says. As a new year begins, we often encourage people to get starting on a Bible reading plan of one kind or another. There are certainly a lot of different plans out there. I don’t recall if I have ever been questioned on it, but you may wonder, what’s the benefit in reading the Bible? What will it get me?
I received an article in my email last week that was an eye-opener for me. It had the title “9 Tangible Benefits of Bible Reading for Your Church.” It described how the Center for Bible Engagement performed a survey of 40,000 people, ages 8 through 80. According to the survey, if you engage the Bible once a week, it has very little impact in your life. This once a week could be as simple as listening to the pastor or someone else read a selection of Scripture at church, or opening your Bible in a print version or as an app on your phone once a week. But if it happens just once, it does very little for the average person. The same is true for someone who reads it twice a week. The survey also found that, if someone reads the Bible three times a week, it moves the needle just a bit. Something stirs in a person.
But if someone reads the Bible four or more times a week, the difference was staggering! Quoting the article: “A steady climb of impact would have been expected, but that was not the case. The level was basically stagnant over days one and two, with a small bump on day three. But when day four was reached, the effects spiked in an astounding way.” What specific impacts grew out of reading the Bible four or more times a week? Here are some impacts the article listed:
1. Feeling lonely drops 30 percent;
2. Anger issues drop 32 percent;
3. Bitterness in relationships drops 40 percent;
4. Alcoholism drops 57 percent;
5. Sex outside of marriage drops 68 percent;
6. Feeling spiritually stagnant drops 60 percent;
7. Viewing pornography drops 61 percent;
8. Sharing your faith jumps 200 percent;
9. Discipling others jumps 230 percent.
I will be honest, these numbers are amazing. I have heard individuals describe how reading the Bible helped them in different areas of their lives at different times, and I have experienced the same thing myself. But to read of the life-changing impact of regular Bible reading in ordinary people was surprising and encouraging. Just consider those nine statements and see how many of them apply to you.
Feeling lonely in these days of COVID, or struggling with anger on the job or in relationships with family or friends? Reading the Bible every day will help you about a third of the time with those things. Dealing with bitterness about how broken a friendship or family relationship has become? Reading the Bible every day will help you over a third of the time. Struggling with drinking? Reading the Bible every day will help you over half of the time! I don’t know what the success rate of AA is, but I like the percentage this survey revealed. Are you trapped in sexual sins, such as pornography or an affair outside of marriage? Reading the Bible every day will help you about two thirds of the time!
Do you feel you are going nowhere spiritually and you are out of touch with God? Reading the Bible every day will change things well over half of the time! And maybe these are unintended and unexpected consequences, but reading the Bible every day will make it twice as likely that you will share your faith with another person and also help someone else grow in their walk with Christ. Look out! Reading the Bible will turn your world upside down. But wait a minute, we already live in a world that is upside down.
Maybe I need to say it this way. Are you tired of all the ways our world and your life is broken? Do you wish you could live your life in different and new ways, or fix things you have carried with you for years and years? It sounds so simple, but sometimes the simplest thing is what works. Read your Bible every day and see what God can do in you and through you.
Kevin Barron is the pastor of Perryville and Crossroads United Methodist Churches. he can be reached by phone at 573-547-5200 or via email at kdbarron@gmail.com.
