Many Christians experience a contradiction between what we believe to be true about the Bible and our actual practice of reading the Bible. Often our theology is superior to our habits. We profess that the Bible is infallible, inerrant, authoritative, and sufficient, but we then neglect it in our daily lives. We agree with David when he says of God’s words, “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10). Yet in our lives we show little hunger for those good, pure, sweet, nourishing words.
How can this be? It is because we allow other things to take the place that should be reserved for God and his Word. It is not that we lack time, but that we lack desire. It is not that we lack ability, but that we lack interest. Robert Chapman says it this way: “The great cause of neglecting the Scriptures is not want of time, but want of heart, some idol taking the place of Christ.”
I think each of us can agree and admit that we too often permit the presence of some idol, something that displaces in our lives the place of prominence that only God deserves. Whether it is entertainment, work, socializing, or something else altogether, we will not prioritize God until we uproot that idol.
