Don’t Just Read Your Bible

Your Bible reading isn’t finished when you complete the reading you have chosen for the day.  Bible reading is not just about reading the words in the section for that day.  Bible reading is designed to change and transform us — we don’t just read the Bible, but we do what we read.  We act on what we read.  We practice what we read.  

This was the instruction of Jesus to the disciples:  “My mother and My brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:21).  Fellowship with Christ is predicated on obeying Christ and His Word.

This was no new teaching either; obedience to the Word is explicitly compelled in the Mosaic Law; and Ezra gave testimony to the principle as well — “Ezra had set his hearty to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10).  Here is the order:  study the Word, practice (do/obey) the Word, and then teach the Word.  There is no ability to teach until it has been studied and practiced.

How can we do that?  How do we cultivate a practice of doing what we read in the Bible?  

First, we need to understand what the passage means.  And the meaning of the passage does not answer the question, “what should I do?”  The meaning of a passage is found in answering the question, “what did the author intend to convey to the readers to whom he was writing?”  This is the principle of authorial intent — we want to understand what the biblical writer was trying to communicate to his particular readers.  That’s the meaning of a passage.  And that meaning is singular:  every passage has only one meaning.  But there may be many implications that derive from that one meaning.

To determine the implications of a text, we next determine a universal principle from the singular meaning:  “what is the general truth about God and His world that is revealed by the meaning of this text?”  That principle should reflect the original meaning of the passage, it should correspond to the broader context of biblical teaching, and it should connect to the needs, interests, questions, and problems of life in any age (including today).  

From that universal principle, I can then draw implications for myself — what should I do in light of the meaning of this passage and the universal truth(s) that are derived from it?  

Here are some questions that are helpful in determining some personal action steps from your daily reading [these are taken and expanded from Hendricks and Hendricks, Living by the Book]:

• Is there a promise I need to believe?
• Is there something for which I need to give thanks (or worship)?
• Is there an act of service I need to perform?
• Is there an example to follow?
• Is there a sin to avoid?  (Is there a sin for which I need to repent/change?)
• Is there a prayer to repeat?
• Is there a command to obey?
• Is there a condition to meet?
• s there an error to mark?
• Is there a challenge to face?
• Is there a verse to memorize?

I summarize all those questions with this one question:  What is one thing I can do because of what I have heard/read today? Then do it. 

So read your Bible.  And then keep “reading” your Bible by doing something about what you read.  Don’t just read your Bible.  Act on what you read.