:: In.a.Mirror.Dimly ::

“God has not given us a Spirit of fear” is one of those snippets of scripture that I passed over throughout high school, college, and even seminary. Yeah, yeah, God is good. While we should have a healthy fear of him, the normal Christian life is characterized by peace and hope and love and blue skies and daisies. I knew it.

Meanwhile I lived as a captive to fear—namely a spirit of fear.

So I had my anxiety attacks, I began each day trying to catch my breath, and drove other people nuts with my anxiety about toasters catching on fire, losing my keys, or dying from high cholesterol.

When receiving prayer one day, that verse from Romans 8:15 worked like a real sword that the Spirit used to hack at the spirit of fear that had taken hold in my life. It’s something I’ve written about often because in that moment a passage of scripture did what it’s supposed to do: freed me to know God in a deeper way.

The Bible was unchained, and God’s Kingdom became a reality that made my seminary classes seem a puddle in sandbox in comparison to the wind and waves that crashed onto a beach.

Yesterday I looked into some reasons why we shouldn’t read the Bible. Today, I want to give some good reasons why we should read the Bible.

Storing Up

The daily work of reading the Bible may not yield fantastic results immediately. I read that verse from Romans many times without anything happening. However, at just the right time God used that verse to break me free. What are we storing up today for God’s work tomorrow?

Reorienting

Scripture reconnects us with God’s plans, methods, and hope for us. The Bible tells us how things were, how they are, and how they will become. We have every reason to expect the world of the Bible to become our world—it was written to be taken seriously rather than partially explained away.

That means there will be some cultural changes, but God is still actively involved in his creation and through his people. The Bible keeps us on the same page with God’s counter-narrative that challenges the twisted values of our culture’s narrative that seep into our lives and into the Church. The Bible keeps us moving into God’s Kingdom.

While the Bible is about God, it is very much a story written for us today.

Worshipping

Yesterday I mentioned that God is not found in the pages of the Bible per se, but the Bible does lead us to God—it testifies concerning the God we long to meet. To that point, using scripture in our personal and corporate worship is a way to take our focus away from ourselves and our problems.

I’m sure I’m missing some other reasons to read the Bible, but these are the big three in my experience. Anything else to add?

Tomorrow’s Post: OK, we know why we should read the Bible, but how should we do it? I’ll share a few thoughts on how to keep the same old 66 books fresh and relevant.