Vital Signs: Friday, November 15, 2024
Great Bible Study is Habitual
We become what we repeatedly do. Whether we know it or not, our lives are shaped by our habits. What we eat, how we react to stress, and whether or not we snooze the alarm – these are all dictated by the habits we have allowed into our lives.
Approximately 45% of everything we do in a day, every day, is habitual. If you have good habits, this is encouraging. But if your habits aren’t what you want them to be, it means half of the decisions you could have made were already chosen for you – and poorly chosen at that. I’m sharing this because I want you to grasp how important it is to regularly spend time in God’s Word.
Why were the giants of faith we see in Scripture so effective? Because time with God and time in His Word were non-negotiable parts of their daily lives. Despite all the mistakes King David made, he kept coming back to God’s Word, readjusting his life according to what it said, and impacting Israel’s history as a result.
Paul grew up a passionate Pharisee who lived and breathed the Scriptures. Once Jesus upended his life, he approached God’s Word with a whole new confidence and fulfilled his life’s purpose because of it.
If anyone could have skipped a daily Bible habit, it was Jesus. Yet time and time again, we see Him sneaking off to read and pray in quiet. He understood, better than any of us, how deeply our humanity needs to be fueled by encounters with the divine.
Struggling to consistently read your Bible?
Leave it open and place it near either the entrance to your bedroom or kitchen. This way, just by going about your normal daily routine, you'll read at least one verse as you walk by. The goal of creating a solid Bible habit is to make it simple (one verse) and visual (already open and in your path).
“I will keep on obeying your instructions forever and ever.”
Psalms 119:44 NLT