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Who's got time to read the Bible?

By Mark Brown

On a typical day my alarm wakes me at 6am ; I then endeavor to leave the house early enough to beat the traffic. Once in the office I am immediately immersed in a tightly orchestrated series of emails and meetings that are the lot of an office-based professional. Before I know it the work day is over and I arrive home to precious time with my wife and children.

Does this sound familiar? The question I have is: in the midst of this busyness, when does one find time to read the Bible? Up until recently Bible reading was low on my list of priorities. It would appear that I am not alone. The Bible Society in New Zealand recently undertook some startling research that showed a majority of Christians in New Zealand don’t read their Bible on a regular basis.

It would seem that reading the Bible regularly is no longer considered an essential practice for the modern Christian. Why aren’t we reading the Bible regularly? I think we need to look beyond the busyness and ask whether we consider Bible reading a priority. If we thought it was important, we would make time for it. So, why isn’t it a priority?

The first place to start is the society around us. Christians cannot help but be influenced by the culture they engage with every minute of their active day. In 1950, 50 percent of primary school students were enrolled in protestant Sunday schools. By 1985 this had decreased to just 11 percent, and today it would be even less. Neither the Church nor Christianity are viewed with the same level of respect as they were just 50 years ago. Today there is a general suspicion of institutions, a resistance to anyone claiming they know absolute truth, an emphasis on personal experience over facts and the view that reality is whatever you make of it. The only truth, the only authority in today’s culture is that which you as an individual choose to believe: if it is true for you, then it must be true.

So in an environment where respect for Christianity has diminished, and where people are suspicious of absolute truth, authority and anything purporting to be an overarching narrative, it is no surprise that the Bible has lost some appeal. Today’s practice of fragmenting the scriptures is also a factor in why reading the Bible has become less of a priority for us. We expose ourselves only to those passages that support our particular point of view or we seek quick scriptural fixes to life’s challenges. It can also be seen in churches where reading on Sunday morning is reduced to a few (if any) select verses embedded in a sermon.

In selecting only fragments of the Bible we lose the sense of the complete biblical narrative. Without this context the risk is the Bible is ultimately reduced to a collection of clever sayings that compete in a marketplace of self-gratification; hardly the formula for Christian maturity. And so the classic question to ask is, “What relevance does the Bible have to me?”.

In Will our Children Have Faith?, J.H Westerhoff III states, “Unless the story is known, understood, owned, and lived, we and our children will not have Christian faith”. Reading the Bible should be central to our practice as Christians. When we read the Bible we are not just undertaking an exercise in learning facts, but engaging in the process of being transformed. The Bible is a venture of the Holy Spirit, both in production (2 Peter 1: 20 ) and distribution (John 1:14 ).

Transformation takes time. It requires disciplined engagement over an extended period, and can have stunning consequences. I have recently made the decision to explore the scriptures daily, to position myself to be transformed by God’s grace through the Holy Spirit on a daily basis. I recognise that this is now considered counter-cultural and a little radical given the prevailing mood. I invite you to join me and pick up your Bible today and commit yourself to daily Bible reading.

• Mark Brown is a National Director of Scripture Union in New Zealand as well as Chairperson of the Bible Agencies Forum of New Zealand. He attends St Columba Presbyterian Church in Lower Hutt. Scripture Union is undertaking a major campaign in 2006 to counter the alarming trend of Bible disengagement in New Zealand.