If you’re a Christian, you believe reading the Bible is important. But how should you approach it in the first place? What kind of “heart posture” is necessary?
God cares deeply about these questions. Here are seven ways we ought to approach his Word.
1. Approach It Humbly
The Bible is empirical evidence that the Maker of the universe is a God who initiates, who reveals, who talks. There are, after all, only two options when it comes to knowledge of one’s Creator: revelation or speculation.
Either he speaks, or we guess.
And he has spoken. The God of heaven and earth has “forfeited his personal privacy”[1] to befriend us through a book. The Bible is like an all-access pass into the revealed mind and will of God.
Now, given that we’re not only creatures of the dust but rebels against heaven’s throne, this is astounding. The King would’ve been entirely right to leave us to ourselves, sunk in an ocean of ignorance and guilt.
But he didn’t. He peeled back the curtain. And then opened his holy mouth.
Any authentic knowledge of God hinges on his generous self-disclosure to us. Only through his Word can we know who he is, what he’s like, what he demands, and how we may know him. This ought to humble us deeply.
2. Approach It Desperately
Having rehearsed God’s law one final time before his death, Moses looks at the people of Israel and says, “These are not just idle words for you—they are your life” (Deuteronomy 32:47). The stakes could not be higher. Not only are our spiritual lives launched by God’s Word (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23), they are sustained by it too. As Jesus declared, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4).
The psalmist, too, ached to hear the words of God: “My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times,” he exclaimed. “I cling to your testimonies. . . . I open my mouth and pant, because I long for your commandments” (Psalm 119:20, 31, 131).[2]
Your soul will wither and die without the Bible. Approach it desperately.
3. Approach It Studiously
Imagine if you asked me about my wife and I responded, “Oh, she’s incredible—the most amazing girl I’ve ever known! She’s from Oregon, has gorgeous red hair, and hates chocolate.” Now, would my chocolate-loving brunette who hails from Virginia feel honored by this description? Of course not. I can gush about her all day, but unless my words reflect who she really is, she’ll be insulted.
Why, then, are we so careless when thinking and speaking of our Creator?
“Great are the works of the LORD,” the psalmist exclaims, “studied by all who delight in them” (Psalm 111:2). The New Testament, too, commends engaging Scripture with care: “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11).