How Not To Read Your Bible | Theocast

The Problem With Reading Scripture for a Feeling

One of the ways that people approach reading Scripture that's less than helpful, we might say they approach it from a sentimental perspective, or it's a very subjective perspective where they are looking for a kind of feeling, a sort of emotional takeaway from their time in the Word, and that's just going to be all kinds of unhelpful for people in part because our feelings and our emotions vacillate like crazy, I mean, by the moment, certainly by the day, and so you're gonna feel different ways about reading the Bible, you're gonna feel different ways reading it, you know, there are gonna be some days where you might be affected and stirred, and there are gonna be other days where it's just flat.

It's like, man, this is just nothing, like nothing's happening, and then what usually is the takeaway from all that, on the days when we feel something strongly, oh man, that time was productive, and that time was useful, and that was a blessing, and all that, but then if it's a day where we just didn't feel anything reading Scripture, or maybe didn't read it at all because we didn't feel like doing it because we were just sort of emotionally exhausted, then we are just mega discouraged, and it basically just kind of, instead of putting any wind in our sails, it just robs us of any motivation, and we start to doubt all kinds of things, and so it's definitely an unsteady way to approach Scripture, to be looking for some kind of sentimental takeaway, or some sort of warm and fuzzy, good feeling, good vibe that we might glean from the Bible, and we're gonna pivot later to how we should read our Bibles, but this is certainly not a way to approach it.

Treating Bible Reading Like an Emotional Experience

I think another way of saying that would be looking for an experience every time we open God's word. Yeah, we hear language like, you need to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you need to cultivate that personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and it needs to be intimate, and so if you're not spending time, and they'll even say, if you don't spend time with your wife, how are you going to have a relationship with her?

So if you're not spending time with Jesus, how are you going to have a relationship with Him? And what ends up happening is that we assume that every time we spend time with Jesus, it needs to be this euphoric moment, and you almost have the pressure of having the first date syndrome, right?

You always want that feeling you had on your first date, if it was a good first date, and anybody who's been married for a long period of time knows that that's just not how relationships work, nor how you build it.

Why Scripture Is Not Meant to Produce a First-Date High

You're not shooting for your first date every time. Sometimes a trip to the coffee store is just what's needed, not a $75 dinner. The dangerous part of that is that when we look at scripture, you don't see Paul giving us instructions on how to have this experiential moment with God.

That's the danger. I would say a lot of people become discouraged in their interactions with God's word because it doesn't produce this experimental moment where my life was transformed this morning, and now I'm going to have a better day.

Communion With God Without Constant Conscious Emotion

Very quickly, just a brief insertion, there was a very popular devotional Bible study called Experiencing God that went around in some churches that I was a.

Member of.

I can't remember the author, but to your point, we are looking for this experience of communion with God, and communion with God is legit and real. We just are not always going to have that conscious experience as we're reading scripture by ourselves.

It's unhelpful.