[(X hours reading Bible + Y hours praying + W% tithe given)/168 hours per week] = Jesus Points.
Thankfully faith does not work like this. Faith is relationship with God and therefore not something which can be quantitatively assessed.
Instead I think reading the Bible functions a lot more like amino acids. Any introductory Biology course (or Wikipedia) informs us amino acids are the molecular building blocks our bodies and other organisms use to make proteins. Proteins in turn make up basically everything in our bodies. There are approximately 25,000 genes in our individual genomes which code for approximately 100,000 proteins that make up us. We are composed of a lot of proteins built out of tons of amino acids. But how is reading the Bible like amino acids?
I don't know how God speaks to you during your Bible reading, and it's fun to see how God speaks to people differently, but personally when God speaks through His word it is almost always not while I am reading the Bible. Instead He usually brings up passages, stories, ideas, etc. from the Bible at other times (during worship, prayer, driving, eating, etc.). For me reading the Bible is not a time to sit down and chat with God, it is a time to ingest raw materials and have those within me for future conversations. I read the Bible to acquire building blocks God will later use to speak; each chapter, parable, psalm is like an amino acid which God will have available to bring to mind.
Some memorable examples God has said:
"Remember how I said I AM faithful? I have not changed."(2 Tim 2:13, Heb 10:23) or "An arrogant pharisee and a humble tax collector walk into the Temple (Lk 18:9-14)....which one of them is your religious spirit acting like right now?"
I am glad reading God's word is not a prerequisite for God to speak, but it does help facilitate our hearing Him. I don't know about you, but I need a lot of help to quiet myself and listen for God's voice. The Bible also provides a standard or baseline by which I can measure and calibrate my life. More on calibration in future posts; for now let's go be people of the Word and acquire some more amino acid-like building blocks.
I don't know how God speaks to you during your Bible reading, and it's fun to see how God speaks to people differently, but personally when God speaks through His word it is almost always not while I am reading the Bible. Instead He usually brings up passages, stories, ideas, etc. from the Bible at other times (during worship, prayer, driving, eating, etc.). For me reading the Bible is not a time to sit down and chat with God, it is a time to ingest raw materials and have those within me for future conversations. I read the Bible to acquire building blocks God will later use to speak; each chapter, parable, psalm is like an amino acid which God will have available to bring to mind.
Some memorable examples God has said:
"Remember how I said I AM faithful? I have not changed."(2 Tim 2:13, Heb 10:23) or "An arrogant pharisee and a humble tax collector walk into the Temple (Lk 18:9-14)....which one of them is your religious spirit acting like right now?"
I am glad reading God's word is not a prerequisite for God to speak, but it does help facilitate our hearing Him. I don't know about you, but I need a lot of help to quiet myself and listen for God's voice. The Bible also provides a standard or baseline by which I can measure and calibrate my life. More on calibration in future posts; for now let's go be people of the Word and acquire some more amino acid-like building blocks.
