Why Read the Bible?
"Your word I have hidden in my heart,
that I might not sin against You."
Psalm 119: 11
A mother tells her five-year-old not to eat a
cookie off a plate with six cookies. When she
returns, she sees that two of the cookies are
gone. “Didn’t I ask you not to eat a cookie?”
the mom asks.
“Yes,” comes the confident reply. “Then why
did you disobey?” the mom asks. “I didn’t
disobey. You told me not to eat one of the
cookies, and I didn’t eat one; I ate
two.”
This illustrates what comedic actor W. C. Fields
said when asked why he was reading the Bible.
He confessed, “I’m looking for a loophole.” It is
human tendency to see how close we can get
to “the line” without actually crossing it.
Some people read the Bible that way—to find
God’s “lines.” Instead of moving toward God’s
lines, we have to move toward God Himself.
When we are consumed with Him, we please
Him in all things—not by avoiding the bad but
by walking in the good.
Read God’s Word in order
to love Him, not
to avoid
offending Him.
"The business of our lives
is not to please
ourselves
but to please God."
Matthew Henry
