Simple- Week 6

Are you really good at making excuses for things you don’t want to do? For example, when it’s time to do your chores or go spend time with those family members you don’t want to see, all of a sudden you have homework that you have to get done.

We come up with excuses for stuff all the time, why we can’t hang out, why we haven’t gotten something done, why our bedroom is a mess, why we are failing. One of the things I have noticed and that I’m guilty of is we always have excuses for why we can’t read our Bible. We could all come up with a million excuses for why we don’t read the Bible more often.

We think that what’s going on on our phones is more exciting than what is happening in the pages of this book. But have you read Genesis 39? The Bible sounds pretty exciting to me.

No one reads anymore, or nobody carries a Bible anymore. That may be true, but do you know you can download an app on your phone and push this little sound button and there is some dude inside the phone that will read the Bible to you?

There are a million reasons why we don’t spend time with God and I want you to hear this. For all of you who feel like God is distant and not at all close to you, it is because you haven’t taken the time to be close to Him. The reason you are close to your family, the reason you are close to your friends is that you spend time with them. The reason we feel distant from God is that we never or rarely spend time talking to Him through prayer, and we never or rarely allow Him the chance to speak back to us by reading or listening to the Bible. A person can’t be close to someone when they don’t spend any time with them.

Some of us are tired of feeling like we are distant from God and feeling like our relationship with Him isn’t that great. If that’s you, take time to get to know this God who loved you so much that He sacrificed His own son on a cross and rose again from the dead to rescue you from yourself. Take time to read how He is always there for His people, the amazing ways He has rescued them over and over, the promises He makes us. We want to make reading the Bible easy and something you guys enjoy. So we have a few tips to help you get to that point, and the first one is–

1. Make sure you have a Bible that is easy to read.

There are all kinds of different translations of the Bible. Some of those translations are easy to read and some are hard. I would recommend the New Living Translation of the Bible. We call that version the NLT. It is the easiest translation of the Bible to understand.

I am going to read a verse of scripture from the King James Bible and then we are going to compare that same verse in the New Living Translation.

The verse we are looking at is found in Psalm 119:9. Here is the King James version of that verse–

Do you know anyone who talks like that anymore? I guess that is the way people talked back in the 1600s, but people don’t talk like that anymore. Let’s look at that same verse in the NLT, The New Living Translation–

Do you see how much easier that verse is to understand?

If you want to start reading the Bible more consistently but you don't have one, we have copies of the New Testament available at Remix. Or if you want one with the Old and New Testament, our bookstore has some you can buy.

God speaks through the Bible, and if you are like me you want to learn the wisdom of God so you make the best choices for your life. You have to invest in a good Bible if you want to draw closer to God.

2. Set aside time to read one chapter of God’s Word a day.

Again, it is impossible to be close to someone if you never spend any time with them. Eventually, a neglected relationship grows cold and distant.

Here is the great news. God always has time for you. The question is will you make time for Him? What time works best for you?

Some of us are morning people. You get out of bed and you are ready to go. Others of us are not morning people. You wake up and anyone who talks to you, you want to kill. If that’s you, you might want to pick another time. For some of you, your time will be while you are eating lunch or when you get home from school, or just before you go to bed. What time will it be for you?

Once you have figured that out, set a daily reminder on your phone and write, “My Time with God.” We set appointments and reminders for things that are important to us, and I can’t think of anything more important than spending a few minutes with God each day.

The goal is to read one chapter of the Bible each day. That will take the average person 3 minutes a day, but those three minutes will be the most impactful minutes of your day. Certainly, every one of us can spend 3 minutes with God.

3. Start in the right place.

Many times, when people decide to read the Bible they think they should start reading at the very beginning because that is what you do when you are reading a book. You start at page 1, but the Bible is a collection of 66 different books so you don’t need to start at page 1. In fact, I would encourage you to start off reading the New Testament.

On our Sagebrush app, under the Bible tab, we have a New Testament reading plan. Download the Sagebrush app and follow along with that reading plan. You will start in the book of Luke. If you do this plan every day, you will have read the entire New Testament in only 9 months.

When you and I asked Jesus to come into our life, we not only wanted Him to forgive us of our sins so we could go to heaven when we die, but we also wanted a close relationship with Jesus where He leads us and guides us. It’s so difficult to be led by God if you are not reading God’s Word. You have to make this time a priority of your daily schedule.

4. When you read the Bible don’t read it too fast.

When we sit down to eat, we don’t sit there and say, “ready, set, go!” and then try to eat it as fast as we can. At least, most of us don’t.

When you read the Bible, take your time. Ask yourself– What is happening in this chapter? What are these people feeling? What are they seeing? Why does God want me to know this? What is He trying to say to me?

Let me end by asking you a question. If you were stranded on a desert island and could have only a single book with you, what would you choose?

Somebody once asked this question of G.K. Chesterton. Given his reputation as one of the best Christian writers in the first half of the twentieth century, one would naturally expect his response to be the Bible. It was not. Chesterton chose "Thomas' Guide to Practical Shipbuilding."

That makes sense, of course. When we're trapped on an island, we want a book that will help us get home. We don't want to be entertained or even informed. We want a book that will show us how to be saved.

So, this week I want to challenge you to start reading one chapter of the Bible a day. I want to encourage you to get the YouVersion Bible app. On that app, it has streaks. So each day you get on and read a verse or a chapter, your streak builds. If you come back to Remix next week and show us that you have a 7 day Bible streak, we will give you a gift card. Why are we doing this? Because we know if you can start reading the Bible every day, your life could forever be changed because of what God will reveal to you.