I know the Bible!

"God helps me, I will not be afraid. Hebrews 13:6"

If you have spent much time around my daughter in the past month or so, chances are, you have heard this verse... it was her memory verse from VBS this year... and she nailed it

Her memorization of this little (great) passage of scripture has lead to a renewed awareness of something for me though. A week or so ago, my wife and I were reading to the kids from our family devotional. At the top of each page, there is a theme verse for the day's lesson. My wife was reading it and thought that it seemed like a good, short verse, and a chance to challenge the little lady with a new verse. As we tried to teach her this new verse, she stated, "No, I already know my verse! God helps me, I will not be afraid. Hebrews 13:6"... we tried to tell her that there are more than just the one verse in the Bible, but she didn't want to hear it... she has her verse, and shes good with it.

Its one thing for a 3 year old to have trouble with this concept, but at what point, as adult (supposedly more mature) Christians, did we hit the wall and decide we knew enough of God's word to no longer have to search it for more? Its sad how little time we spend with God. Its even sadder when we refuse to deepen our understanding of God's word, because we already know the Bible. When asked, most people in church will say that they don't spend enough time in the Word. They admit they should be reading it more often... some will even go so far as to say that they should meditate on it more frequently, reaching beyond just reading it, but actually studying it... so, why don't we do it?

I say a large amount of things through the day, many times I say them because its what you are supposed to say... but why put up the front of saying that I know I need to spend more time with God, when I know I won't actually do it? Do I, or you, actually believe that God is pleased because we simply acknowledge our need for more of Him? Why not start today, take just 5 minutes, seek the face of God.

The way that this was best described to me was to close your eyes, and picture the throne of God... picture the seat in the front row, with your name on it... have a seat, and just sit there. Don't speak, don't do anything, just bathe in the glory of God... 5 minutes... then, go get in His word, read a verse, a chapter, a page, the whole thing if you'd like! But do it.

There is more in there than any of us have ever considered, and the moment that we feel like we are good, that we have learned our Bible, thats when we start to become stagnant... that moment when we utter the words, "I know the Bible!" we are just asking for something to test that knowledge... our pride will be used for our humiliation. Hopefully that would lead us back into the Word, but wouldn't it be better to just stay there instead?