5 (More) Big Myths About God’s Word

Mind if I keep my imaginary job as the host of MythBusters? Today, let’s tackle five more myths about how we relate to God’s Word.

Imaginary lights. Imaginary camera. Action!

Myth #1: I can learn the Bible through osmosis.

Osmosis is the spontaneous net movement of solvent molecules through a semi-permeable membrane . . .

Yawn!

My pretend scientist/MythBuster brain can’t comprehend that, so for our purposes, let’s just say that Bible osmosis is the process of learning the Bible without actually reading the Bible.

We can’t learn God’s Word from letting it sit on our nightstand.

We can’t learn God’s Word from letting it sit on our nightstand. We can’t learn it by framing a few verses on our walls. We can’t even learn it, really learn it, just by listening to other people talk about it.

It’s a simple truth that I need frequent reminders of—to know God’s Word, I need to read God’s Word. Often. Daily if possible.

When we were doing research for the Lies Young Women Believe book, one of the lies that shocked us was “my youth pastor is my connection to God.” Everywhere we went, we found girls who were so used to their youth pastors (and pastors) teaching the Bible, they didn’t know how to study the Bible for themselves.

It’s great to have someone like a pastor or Sunday school teacher help you study the Bible, but you can study the Bible for yourself.

Pick up your Bible, and dig in!

Myth #2: I need to know the whole Bible right now.

In case you hadn’t noticed, the Bible is a really, really big book.

In fact, the Bible:

• is comprised of sixty-six smaller books.
• was written by at least thirty-nine writers over a span of 1,500 years.
• contains more than 1,000 chapters, more than 30,000 verses, and more than 800,000 words.

By comparison, War and Peace has just shy of 600,000 words.

Do you think there is anyone out there who thinks they can memorize War and Peace in a few days? Does anyone expect to grasp every part of their super-thick trigonometry textbook in a single year? Nope. In other areas we give ourselves permission to be lifelong learners, but not when it comes to being students of God’s Word.

Let me fix that.

Consider this post your permission slip to spend the rest of your life trying to understand the Bible.

I hope that one year from now I have a better grasp on the Bible than I do today, and I hope decades from now I know even more. But I am in this for the long haul. I’m committed to spending my entire life studying God’s Word. Join me?

Myth #3: I should have an emotional reaction to God’s Word.

In Luke 10:27, Jesus gave us this commandment:

And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

Sure, loving God and His Word happens in our hearts, but it also happens in our minds and in our actions.

Loving God and His Word happens in our hearts, but it also happens in our minds and in our actions.

Sometimes the Bible makes us cry. Sometimes it makes us think. Sometimes it convicts of sin. Sometimes it teaches us a scientific truth about how the world works. Sometimes it makes us think. Your time with the Lord in His Word doesn’t need to be an emotional experience every day. If you don’t feel warm fuzzies, that’s okay.

Myth #4: Reading my Bible is how I earn gold stars.

Reading your Bible is important, but it does not make Jesus love you more.

As a typical, first-born achiever, I spent years believing that when I read my Bible, God was pleased with me and secretly adding gold stars to some performance chart in heaven. Of course, the flip side of that thinking was that if I didn’t read my Bible, Jesus was frustrated with me. (So long gold stars!)

Reading your Bible is important, but it does not make Jesus love you more.

This is why I so desperately need the message of the gospel I find over and over in the Bible. God loves me because He created me. I bear His image (Gen. 1:27). I have right standing with Him because of Christ’s sacrifice, not because of anything I do or don’t do (Eph. 2:8-9).

I should read the Bible because it is God’s Word to me, not to try to earn (or keep) God’s affections.

Myth #5: I’ve got better things to do.

Hebrews 4:12 makes this bold promise:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The Bible is a living book, breathed out by God, as a gift to His people.

Can any other book on your shelves make that claim? Is there any other way to spend your time that connects you to the God of the universe like reading His Word does? Is it possible to know and serve God apart from His Word?

Nope.

Uh-uh.

Nada.

There is no more worthy pursuit of your time, your life, and your affections than the Word of God.

So whaddya say, girls? Will you join me in becoming obsessed with God’s Word?

By Erin Davis