How to get the most out of your Bible, Part 2

In Part 1, I suggested (1) read your Bible. (2) Explore further using cross references.

Spiritual starvation results from not reading your Bible. If you are not reading and studying your Bible, you are suffering from spiritual starvation!

Lack of time for reading is no excuse. As a practical matter, everyone is blessed with 24 hours each day. As a further practical matter, you can start with small doses of Bible reading. I suggest 20 minutes a day to start. You don’t have to read for 20 minutes straight. You can break up your reading into shorter segments of time. You can even spend less than 20 minutes in a day, but as you get into Bible reading you will find you enjoy it enough that you will want to take more time.

How to enjoy a spiritual meal

1) Choose a meal. For beginners, I suggest starting with the Gospel of Mark. That is the second book in the New Testament, so it is easy to find. For those who prefer to start in the Old Testament, a good short book to start with would be the book of Ruth. It has just 4 chapters. Another place to start reading in the Old Testament is the book of Proverbs. Read one chapter a day in Proverbs in sequence and you can read the book in a month.

2) Now dig in and enjoy the entrée. While reading, keep a mental note of which verses in the chapter strike you as most interesting. You can mark those in a hard copy Bible, or highlight them in an I-phone application.

3) Next, choose your dessert. Take a further look at the verse that most impressed you as you read. Some verses are so good that it becomes worthwhile to memorize them. Take time to meditate on God’s Word. Almost every verse can be opened further by asking what the verse says about my responsibility, what does it say about God’s responsibility. Is there a command to obey? Does a verse provide needed guidance, or does it provide comfort? Does it suggest something to pray about? Is the verse an encouragement to prayer? Does the verse contain a promise from God?

4) Share the recipe. Once you have enjoyed a number of gourmet spiritual meals you’ve prepared for yourself, you may be motivated to share the recipe with another person. If we could rid the world of spiritual starvation, it surely would be a better place!

If you don’t feed on God’s Word found in the Bible, you will starve to death spiritually. And for that, there is no excuse!