Bible reading is the quickest way to jump start your faith and get growing spiritually. That is why it is the first of 6 Healthy Spiritual Habits that we are exploring in order to help you get growing in 2018!
We have seen that Bible reading refuels you and that it redirects you. Lastly, we are going to see that reading your Bible does one other thing, it rewards you!
Bible Reading Rewards You
The whole point to Bible reading is to invest in yourself and become more and more like Jesus (Romans 8:29-30). You can read the Bible and get nothing out of it. You can read the Bible and misinterpret it or misapply it, or simply disregard everything you have read and continue living your life like nothing even happened. You can do that, but there is no reward in any of that. Rather, becoming more and more like Jesus by conforming to the image of God’s Son, becoming a living sacrifice who allows the Holy Spirit to transform your life, renewing your mind so that you think like Jesus, and begin worshiping and discerning His will of your life (Romans 12:1-2).
God wants to reward you. He wants to help you invest in and improve your life. He wants you to get growing spiritually. He created you on purpose and for a purpose and He wants to see you fulfill that purpose. Like any good father would, God wants to see you grow spiritually, relationally, and holistically! He wants to see you achieve your wildest dreams and become all that you were intended to be. One way in which to do this, and get all the rewards that a relationship with God entails, is through daily Bible reading. That’s because the Bible is unlike any other book this world has ever seen. Simply reading it, wrestling with it, trying to understand it, and apply it to your life will reward you uniquely and immensely.
Reading the Bible will reward you by making your prosperous and successful.
“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” – Joshua 1:8
Reading the Bible will reward you by thoroughly equipping you for every good work, teaching you, rebuking you, correcting you, and training you so you can serve God and others and live out the life you were created to live.
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Finally, reading the Bible will reward you with unrelenting hope even in the darkest of times.
“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” – Romans 15:4
Reading the Bible is the foundation of your spiritual growth. Reading the Bible liberates you from the stifling slavery of self-interest and fear and this spiritual habit helps you to get growing.
Reading the Bible refuels you so that you have enough energy to continue growing. Reading the Bible redirects you so that you travel down the right path that leads to life and spiritual growth. Reading the Bible rewards you because it is the primary method that God has chosen to grow you, transform you, conform you into the image of His Son, and communicate His love to you.
If you want to get growing in 2018, then you better establish daily Bible Reading as the foundational spiritual habit for your life. Without it, there is not chance of growing. With it, Heaven truly is the limit. Let’s get growing!
How have you been rewarded by reading God’s Word?
Let me know in the comment section below!
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