• Closed Bibles, Closed Hearts

    By: Kristen L. McNulty



    We read so much in any given day, it's shocking if you add it all up. Pages at work. Text scrolling across on our computer screen. Facebook status, twitter posts, texts calling our attention as they light up our phones. And somewhere in the midst of this information overload its very easy to not pick up our Bibles and spend timing reading God's Word. Or worse, when we do, treat it with the same level of detachment that we do status updates or texts that show up on our screens.

    God's word wasn't written as history textbook meant to gather dust on our shelves. And it certainly wasn't written for Him to read. It was written for you and for me. For wisdom when we lack it. For direction when we're drifting. For strength when we are weak. For encouragement when we are down and out. Ultimately to remind us each and every day just how loved we are by our Creator.

    And while its all contained in one book this just isn't any book. It's God's Living Word. What does that mean? It means the Bible is more than words on a page, it's a living thing, a life force that points us to what God has to say to us each time we read a page. You could read the same page a hundred times over on a hundred different days and find something new that pops out at you when you least expect it and when you most need it. It is God's voice speaking to you with clarity, truth, and love. And it's available at any time to each and every one of us. As long as we're willing to pick up the book and read it.

    I know many believers who have multiple bibles on their homes but still fail to pick it up on a daily or sadly even monthly basis. Understand that I'm not pointing fingers because sadly there have been seasons in my life where I was one of them. But what they forget, and what I have forgotten, is we can go to all the church services we want, we can talk to all the Christian friends we want, we can even listen to Christian music day in and day out but there is no substitute for God's Word in our lives. The Bible and prayer is what takes the religion out of the word Christian and turns it into a relationship. It's what allows us to know God for ourselves and there is no shortcut or formula we can use in its place. Picking up the Bible is out way of saying: "God I'm here, looking to find You and willing to listen." It's our way of bringing our best foot forward and making our faith into a relationship not a requirement. It's recognizing that as long as our bibles are closed, so are our hearts to God. Truly a relationship could never function in a healthy way if the girlfriend said to the boyfriend come find me when you want to talk, but never picked up the phone when he'd call or opened his emails when he'd write. In fact not one of us would blame the boyfriend if he started considering himself single if that went on for some time. In the same way, we are fooling ourselves if we say we are in love with Jesus when we continually ignore the letters He sent, push away one of His ways of speaking to us, and ignore what He is trying to say.

    If it has been a while since you've picked up your bible, do yourself a favor right now and open it. Commit to spending time each day reading it and ask God to reveal Himself to you in it and to use it to make you really fall in love with Him.

    Closing with the advice that David gave to his son Solomon and it's advice we would all do well to follow:

    “And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the LORD sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever." (1 Chronicles 28:9)

    Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.

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