Why you must study your Bible.

I recently had a conversation with X, who was FULL of questions to which he had no answers himself. And the questions he had weren’t actually that complicated. A porn addiction, sex, faith, and so on. He had also been to a church for years. He went there every Sunday.

We answered all his questions, each time, with one simple Bible verse per question, that did answer his questions one by one. Wonderfully clear and very quickly we went through his whole list of questions that he had been dealing with for years. We didn’t give him our opinions, we gave him God’s answers from His bible. He received a very neutral answer, without our judgment. And that gave a lot of room for quite exciting topics, answers and questions.

When we asked him how much time he devoted each week to his personal Bible studies, his response was:

I go to a Bible study group in church for one hour a week.

So, then we asked him again, more clearly: How much time do you put into your personal Bible study per week? And study is not just reading your Bible, but also delving into who something was written for, why it was written, when, and what it means for us when we know all of that. (to start with) And the answer to that was:

I don’t and never did.

That brought up the real problem. Because for all his previous questions, the answer was already there. Literally, for thousands of years. His answers had been waiting for him to read and study in his Bible for thousands of years. But he read nothing, studied nothing. Never did.

There is a beautiful Bible verse that talks about that, about all those questions that make you restless and how you can find the answer to those questions:

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

1 John 5:13

God gave that Bible to us for a reason. If we have uncertainty, then we must look at what is literally written in that Bible. If we don’t do that, then there is indeed uncertainty… and there is a bigger problem… because then we, again, fail to do what God asks of us:

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Joshua 1:8

If you want things to go well for you, and you want to be prosperous and successful, then you literally have to do something for that. Otherwise, it won’t happen. Full stop.

So then we got to the point where X indicated that he would now begin personal Bible studies. He chose two topics that they would be about (pornography and certainty of faith) and we then asked how much time he was going to spend on those Bible studies per week. (concrete, measurable, doable). His answer was:

Fifteen minutes a week. Because I have trouble concentrating.

And then we asked him how much time he is concentrating on pornographic films and literature per week.

And then there was silence for a long time…

For a long very time…

Because he knew very well what it was about… If you are looking for answers to your problems, but spend more time causing the problems than solving them and looking for solutions through God’s word… what do you think will happen?

Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

“Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.”

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Matthew 19:16-22

Don’t do as in this example above, but do what God told you today through Joshua 1:8 and 1 John 5:13. “Then you will be prosperous and successful.” Fifteen minutes of Bible study a day in a world that offers uncertainty and chaos 24/7? That doesn’t sound like a balanced plan and doesn’t sound like it’s focused on finding solutions with God’s word in your hand… Come on, start studying. Now.