Have you ever played the blame game? I played the blame game for many years.
I was going on my morning walk and had a couple of thoughts that struck me. Too many times, I had voiced
the same reasoning when it came to my faith in regards to – reading the Bible.
I blamed the
Despite the many years spent attending church every Sunday, I blamed the clergy for never telling me I
needed to read the Bible myself. I relied on them every Sunday to read it to me. I allowed someone else
to read the Scriptures they felt were important. But what about the rest of the Scriptures that are just as
important?
It was the only time I ever heard Scripture from the Bible. I never knew what the rest of the
Bible said – because I didn’t take the initiative to pick it up and read it myself.
I didn’t take the initiative to discover what Jesus was all about. I let others define my understanding and limited
comprehension.
Somehow I pictured myself living in Bible times where priests, prophets, and apostles read the written word of God to the masses off parchments and scrolls.
Somehow I never connected the dots that I should pick up a copy of the Word of God, readily available to me in this modern age, and read it for myself.
I blamed the teachers in private school for never teaching me to open the Word of God for myself. They taught religion daily, and somehow I missed it. They didn’t emphasize enough that I should read the Bible I carried. I saw it as a book I studied in class, so I was good to go.
I blamed everyone else for my lack of reading the Bible.
I blamed my parents, who never told me how important it was for me to read the Bible.
I blamed my grandmother, who religiously went to church every Sunday, and even she didn’t impress upon me the importance of reading God’s word daily. If she did, I don’t recall.
‘I don’t understand the Bible. It’s too hard and too long.’
I blamed everyone else except – myself.
I walked this earth for many years under the delusion that someone else was responsible for my lack of action. It wasn’t that I couldn’t read. It wasn’t that I couldn’t get my hands on a copy of the Bible. It wasn’t someone else’s fault I failed to connect the dots. It was my fault.
Now that I have been enlightened, I admit there is no valid excuse as to why I hadn’t read God’s word for myself.
I have pictured myself standing before God and Him asking me why I didn’t read the Bible. And my answer?
“It’s the priest, the nuns, my parents, or my grandparent’s fault because they never told me I had to.”
What do you think His response would be?
I live in an age today where hardly anything is private anymore. Technology today has seeped into practically every aspect of life. Most of society has instant access to the world. The internet is froth with endless possibilities. Among the various applications available for download is the Bible. And so, while I can sit back and shift the blame to someone else, I don’t believe God will accept my excuse, given all the avenues available to me today to read the Bible.
Frankly, I was without an excuse. My “I grew up in the Catholic church, so the priest or nun never told me” would not hold much water. I must accept responsibility for my lack of action.
Romans 1:18-20 (NIV)
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been
made so that people are without excuse.”
Until I read the Bible, I didn’t know the above passage existed. I had been living in a fairy tale land with candy corn and skittles, happy
to be alive but dead on the inside. Until I read the Bible, there were many things I didn’t know.
Once I started reading the Bible, it came alive, and I started experiencing all kinds of beautiful things in my life.
Do I understand all it says?
No. But when I read it, I feel the presence of the Lord, and I cherish those moments. Folks told me I would, but I didn’t believe them. I thought they were a little crazy. But the Bible is where I learned about walking daily with Jesus Christ and how a personal relationship with Him was the key to all I had been missing.
A personal relationship with Jesus was what he ultimately desired. It was the personal relationship I had been unknowingly wanting for years.
For some, the Bible has become a lampstand, a bookend, a prop to raise a piece of furniture. I’ve always said that if everyone blew their bibles off simultaneously, we’d have recorded the most significant dust storm.
The Bible isn’t on the New York Times best-seller list because it would be number one every single week of the year. It is the number one book of all time, with millions upon millions sold in various translations and languages. While we make haste to read fiction, love stories, drama, history, horror stories, and true stories, somehow, we don’t view the Bible as being just as thrilling as those other genres. Maybe it’s because we have determined it’s too old-fashioned, too hard to understand, too long, or a made-up fairy tale that isn’t relevant today.
Maybe the truth is that we’re too afraid that what we’ll read will directly conflict with how we live. Perhaps we’re too scared to meet the Creator of this world face to face on the pages of His written word.
Whatever the reason, Jesus has been made known to all of us.
How do I know that’s true?
Take a look around the world today. Whose one of the most talked about and hated people on the planet? Jesus Christ.
Loved or hated, Jesus Christ is at the core of most conflicts, whether silent or spoken.
You have to make a decision – a personal decision.
What will you do with the Bible?
Because this decision ultimately affects you. When it gets down to the bottom line, you will be standing there by yourself, and you, alone, with no one else, will have to answer for yourself and your decisions.
It’s never too late to get started. You can start reading the Bible today and see what God says!
Blessings,
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