The Surpassing Worth of Knowing Christ Jesus: Open Your Bible!

If you were to take stock of the number of Bibles in my home, I'm sure the number would be at least in the twenties. We've got the ESV, NIV, KJV, NASB, HCSB, The Message, children's Bibles, New Testaments, study Bibles and Bibles on every computer and mobile device. I am a Bible teacher and I am married to a Bible preacher. I was born and raised with a Bible in my hand and could hold my own in any Bible drill or Scripture memory contest. I truly, honestly, totally LOVE God's Word.

So WHY, oh WHY do I fail to read it every day?

Here's the answer I've come up with (and it hurts): I just really don't want to.

I have a feeling I'm not alone here. In fact, I know I'm not. I sat with two other precious, godly ladies in our Bible study group on Wednesday who confessed to the same sin. We don't read our Bibles daily. We had a bunch of reasons, most of which revolved around young children in our homes and busy-ness and exhaustion. One even confessed that she set up a notification on her phone's Bible app that reminds her each day to read her Bible, but she often swipes it away and heads to Facebook instead. She's not alone either. I can relate.

In the interest of full disclosure: I haven't read my Bible today. Right now cartoons are blaring from the tv and with four kids home for the summer, someone keeps needing something every few seconds. Kids. I usually fill my days with appointments and errands and mothering. Busy. I'll go to bed and honestly I'm not sure if I'll read before bed either. Tired.

When you sift through all of the lame excuses and get to the heart of this particular issue, you'll find that the reason I don't open my Bible every day actually has nothing to do with my kids or that I'm too busy or that I'm too tired. It's that I value other things over God's Word. Stupid things like social media and tv and chores and hobbies. Good things like my husband and children and church and home. Remember what Paul says about that?

Did you catch that? EVERYTHING is loss next to Jesus. The bad things and the good things - All are loss compared to knowing Jesus. That means those precious kids He has entrusted to me on this earth are LOSS compared with Jesus. The items on my to-do list are worthless next to Him. Every excuse I can come up with for not seeking to know Him more is absolutely stupid because none of them can explain away the fact that ultimately I just put everything else before Jesus. It kills me to type that out in black and white.

But as they say, the first step to healing is admitting you need help, right? So would you join me in this journey to open the Bible? I won't get it right 100% of the time and neither will you. But if we can begin to take steps that bring us closer to Jesus, we will discover the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus. And just like Paul, I'm convinced that everything else is loss because of the worth of knowing Him.

So guess what I just did? I ignored the cartoons blaring and the steady stream of questions and needs from the kids. I put my to-do list aside for just a minute and I opened my Bible. Technically, I opened another window on my computer, but hey, it's the Bible! Are you on the computer right now? Your phone? Your tablet? I bet if you take just a minute, you can switch over to the Bible too! So, my friend, no more excuses. OPEN YOUR BIBLE!

I'll be blogging through our summer Bible study called "Open Your Bible" by Raechel Myers and Amanda Bible Williams. You can get a book from me any time if you're local or you can order one to be shipped to your doorstep from this link right here! I'd love for you to check out the She Reads Truth page to read an excerpt from this week's group time. It's so so good. Find it here.