The Danger of Dabbling

There’s still time!  It’s not too late to make a New Year’s start on read­ing the Bible.  Our two-year plan is available in the lobby and online, and Day One is January 6. If you take this road, you’ll read two chapters each weekday and one a day on weekends.  And you’ll move back and forth in the Bible—so that the long foundation of faith in the Old Testament and its fulfillment in Christ are both kept in view as you go.  (For other reading plans, consider these options.)

If you’re motivated to read the Bible, I don’t need to say more.  You already know you’ll have to carve out time daily to draw near to God.  You already know that skimming a page for a minute while listening to NFL highlights will not do.  And you already know that the Lord isn’t merely seeking to transfer Bible information to us—he’s calling us into conversation:  the Father speaks to his church through the Word, and we “talk back” in our prayers of praise, trust, confession, lament, and petition (i.e., prayer requests).

But if you’re not motivated to dig into Scripture, or your zeal for Bible study is weak, let me remind you that you’re under attack:

“Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:7-8).  The only way to experience a close, heart-changing, hope-giving relationship with God is to turn away from the self-serving pursuits to which the devil beckons, and “draw near” to God.  He opens his arms to us when we stop our prodigal wanderings and go home (Luke 15:11-32).

Take up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).  The Bible is an essential weapon for spiritual warfare, but you can’t wield it if you don’t wear it.  So if you profess to know Jesus but walk around unarmed while Satan assaults you with every kind of temptation, distraction, discouragement, then you’re a sitting duck for his spiritual brutality.  Don’t choose misery.  Strap on the Word!

Remember: “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jere­miah 29:13).  Dabbling with God is a sign we’re confused about who he is, and who we are, and which way’s up.  Friends, for your good, and for the honor of God:  Take up the Word!