How’s your spiritual appetite? (2)

Prolonged starvation can have a profound effect on your health. You lose your ability to think clearly. Your vision gets blurry. Your strength wanes, and you stop being productive. And if you go long enough without nourishment, the chances are, you’ll end up in the hospital being fed through a tube. Guess what? It’s the same with your spiritual life. Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4 NIV). So knowing that, how come we don’t spend time reading the Bible? We know it’s essential to our spiritual, mental and emotional health. Yet we fail to do it or do it inconsistently. Why? (1) Because we’re not motivated. We haven’t experienced the joy that comes from personally discovering great truths from God’s Word. We grow complacent and settle for having our spiritual food handed to us by other people. But when you get serious about studying the Bible for yourself, you’ll never again be satisfied with second-hand knowledge. (2) Because we don’t know how. We hear a great sermon and think, “Why didn’t I see that?” Because most pastors spend hours studying the scriptures—we don’t! (3) Because we get lazy. Bible study requires self-discipline. It takes time, effort, concentration, and persistence. Most great truths don’t lie on the surface; you have to dig for them. In the Old Testament when Israel “sought God eagerly…he was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest on every side.” And God will do that for you too!