Psalm 119:159-162 Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your lovingkindness. The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever. Princes persecute me without a cause, but my heart stands in awe of Your word. I rejoice at Your word as one who find great treasure.
I’ve been thinking recently about those that claim Christianity but never crack open a bible. They don’t bring them to church, they rarely go to them for guidance and they don’t use it in the way it has been prescribed by scripture. Can you truly be a “Believer” and never, if rarely, open God’s Word?
I know you can in extreme examples such as the thief on the cross, the Lord told him he would be in paradise with Him today. This man never went to church and probably never read the Tora. He was saved to glorify God, just like all Believers. I’m not talking about something like this. I’m talking about Joe Christian that attends a service frequently, probably weekly and would identify himself as an evangelical. He might even say he’s “born again”.
I want you to look around this weekend when you go to church and see how many people are carrying their bibles. Take a sampling and then do an estimated percentage in your head. Would it be shocking if it was less than 50%? How about less than 10%? How many read their bibles daily? According to a recent article by Christianity Today, 80% of church goers don’t read daily. Here is the article.
Are you in awe of God’s Word and find it as one who finds great treasure? This may give you an indication of your condition before God. Don’t check out just yet. Why would I say that?
In Matthew Chapter 5 Jesus begins His Sermon on the Mount with what it means to enter the kingdom of heaven. Do you remember this? This is a road map to salvation. You will be “Blessed” makarios – supremely blessed such as a blessing reserved for the “gods”. I don’t intend this to be a lesson on the Beatitudes but I want to point to verse 6.
Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
This tells a considerable story about those that don’t hunger and thirst for righteousness. They won’t be filled right? You can’t hunger when you’re not hungry. You can’t thirst when you’re not thirsty. Jesus tells us if we’ve been poor in spirit and mourned over our sin, if we’ve become meek (power under control of the Spirit) we WILL then do these things. This is a natural outflow of what happened to us in salvation.
Jesus said you will know them by their fruits. What fruit is He talking about? When Jesus changed my life, I had a desire to know Him more. I wanted Him and His Word. I craved Him like a hungry and a thirsty man starving in the desert. It was my changed nature. I didn’t force myself to “like” the bible. It just was that way.
People come to church or profess Christ for lots of reasons. Does it include a testimony? “I was this….” (You insert all the nastiness you were) And now “I’m this…” (God changed you to something completely different) without a dramatic change in your life, your profession might not be real?
How many times have you been saved? If it’s more than once you’re probably not saved. Does that sound judgmental to you?
Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What was it like to be poor in the ancient world? It was humiliating to say the least. You had to beg for every scrap of food you ate. You had to beg people to be merciful; crouched in the corner too ashamed to even look up. This is what Jesus is describing. We must come to a point where we realize we can do nothing for ourselves.
When did you realize that your sin separated you from God? When did you understand that your sin had you headed to hell? Don’t dismiss this today, I beg you. Can you be saved without reading your bible? Maybe, but I think it’s very rare. Romans 10:17
The other reality of this is what Jesus called the wide road that leads to destruction and many go in by it (Matthew 7:13-14). Read God’s Word and be saved. I implore you today. If you claim salvation and don’t hunger and thirst for God’s Word, I encourage you to examine yourself.
There is dust enough on some of your Bibles to write ‘damnation’ with your fingers. —Charles Spurgeon
Kevin
Uncommon Faith 
Good work, Kevin!
Thanks George, Praise God for His faithfulness.