It's Time to Overcome Bible Reading Standards

The other day I read a quote that I felt deep within my soul & I know I can’t be the only one:

“Don’t neglect Bible reading because you have unattainable standards for what Bible reading should look like.”

If these words stirred up something in your heart, I’m here to remind you that you're not alone. I want to share with you the real and raw details that are carved into my relationship with God. No filters here. As followers of Jesus, it is so powerful when we are okay with being vulnerable with one another and then use that safe & open space to build each other up.

So that's what my goal is for this post: to relate, uplift, and unite.

I don’t know where you are right now.

Maybe you’ve never cracked open a Bible in your life.

Maybe you want to, but it feels like such an intimidating task so you avoid it altogether.

Maybe you find it boring, confusing, or outdated.

Maybe this is your first time ever reading about anything in relation to the Bible.

This task, reading the Bible... It’s something so important and not talked about enough. I think a lot of it has to deal with fear and that we often don’t really know how to approach such a holy book. Regardless of where you stand and what your reasons are, I’m here to dive deep with you. To answer the hard questions, because it needs to be done.

In my personal experience, Bible reading has always been a roller coaster ride full of high’s and low’s. When I first started, I was so on again off again and there was no consistency. It took a lot of discipline to get where I am now. Today, there are definitely days when I read my Bible and I close it abruptly because nothing makes sense & frustration gets the best of me. Some days I just gain a lot of head knowledge & it feels like textbook reading. Some days God convicts me. Some days I feel as if God is sitting right there next to me as everything I read touches my heart in a new way. And yes, there are in fact days where I don't get around to reading it at all.

I’m a huge advocate for using social media for evangelism, but I think sometimes this can be the leading cause of a lot of Bible reading fear rooted in comparison and perfection. Now I’m not saying I don’t enjoy an aesthetically pleasing photo of someone’s morning coffee & a marked up Bible (heck I do that) but it’s not realistic. It manages to create a set of standards that falsely shape what a relationship with God looks like. It gives off this image of perfection that totally surpasses the purpose of spending that intimate time with the Lord.

There is so much I could say but I don’t want this post to be a million miles long. To start, here are three practical takeaways for you to keep in mind when starting off reading the Bible.

1. Know your "why" for reading the Bible: This is a Book about God and His story of redemption. When you are reading, don’t pick and choose what is and is not important, because every word in this book is important. Scripture is the living and breathing Word of God. It can be easy to have the mindset of “What can I get from this” when spending time in the word. But this book is not about us, it’s about God. Instead, I encourage you to read with this question in mind: “What does this passage teach me about God?” Also, context matters!!!! Yes, the Bible is made for anyone to read, but it’s important to remember that it was written thousands of years ago to specific audiences which again, is another reason why we should not read scripture with the mindset of “What can I take away from this.”

2. You cannot rely simply on motivation: This is so important. If you take away anything from this post, let it be this. You cannot rely simply on motivation to read your Bible everyday, because there will be days when you have none. Just like exercising, Bible reading is a spiritual muscle that we need to work every single day or else nothing will come from it. It requires intentionality and discipline. I can confidently tell you this because I see the results of it in my life right now. It is so important that we don’t let our human emotions & feelings water down the goodness & richness of God’s word. The truth on those pages remains the same even when we don’t feel it or see it in action. Regardless of what each day looks like, the truth written on those beautiful pages remains the same. It remains true. The goodness of His loving word is in no way dependent on our motivation to want to read it.

Don’t let legalism and perfection keep you from reading your Bible: This is honestly one of my biggest struggles and I’m still trying to overcome it. I struggle with something called “devotional legalism” which essentially means that at times I treat Bible reading like some legal thing between God and I and that if I missed a day, that God is disappointed in me. Silly, I know. But this was detrimental to me and my Bible reading progress. This is a big fat lie from the enemy, do not settle for this. God is not disappointed in you if you miss a day of reading. Why? Well, first because nowhere in the Bible does it talk about such a thing. And second, our relationship with God is not dependent on what we do for Him, but what He has done for us. As I mentioned earlier, there is such an unrealistic image of perfection with Bible reading plastered all over social media that can feed the lie that Bible reading has to look a certain way. Let me tell you the truth: Bible reading is hard. It requires discipline but is so rewarding. It can be confusing. It can be a challenge. And it will look different every single day. We are humans born into sin and perfection is literally unattainable without the blood of Jesus. So don't let that image of perfection be the goal of your time with the Lord or the thing that drives you away. Your focus should be on the transformation of your heart and taking your relationship with God deeper. One day your time with God might look like meditating on one verse and another day it might look like reading a whole chapter. Both mornings are just as valuable because you spent time with Him. That’s all God wants from you. He wants you to show up.

my personal process of learning how to love reading the Bible has been all over the place. I've been in every high spot and every low spot you can think of. I get how hard it is, I really do. But I also know how rewarding and how important this discipline is. The Bible went from being a super irrelevant, confusing, and boring book to something that I can't go a day without reading. Praise God for this.

I pray that this was somewhat helpful for you. I plan on writing several more posts on this topic that go more in depth based off of some feedback I received on Instagram!

You are so loved.

Morgan