Your Bible reading habit (or lack thereof) won’t increase or decrease God’s love for you. But your spiritual discipline will very much affect the warmth of your heart toward truth. Your devotion to Scripture will very much impact your delight in the glories of Christ and the gospel.
The claim in my title might seem like nonsense to some people, because maybe they’ve tried to read the Bible and just can’t engage it very long or with much interest. I can imagine pushback from someone who says, “Some people like fish; some don’t. Some people like watching baseball; some don’t. Some people find the Bible interesting; some don’t.”
But I’m contending that my claim isn’t subjective in the way that a food preference or a sports interest is subjective. I’m saying that, objectively, the Bible isn’t boring. It is the revelation of the living God to us. If we find the Bible dull or boring, the problem is with us and not with the Bible.
In a previous article, I talked about four reasons why people might struggle with an interest in Scripture. And in this article I want to list reasons five through eight.
Fifth, maybe you’re unaware of certain historical matters. No matter what chapter or book you open in Scripture, you are thousands of years removed from the composition and content of what you read. You should expect, then, that more understanding about certain historical places or customs or laws would fill in the gaps in your mind.
But how curious are you? Learning about biblical background issues takes work, some research, some resources. There are atlases and commentaries and study Bibles that can illuminate what seems perplexing at first glance. So be a curious reader. Ask yourself, “Why is this here? What role does this passage/chapter play in the surrounding flow of Scripture? What details about ____ do I not know and need to investigate further?”
Sixth, maybe you’re reading too quickly. Bible reading is not a race. What if you slowed down?