Why don’t many professing Christians learn to study the Bible? One common excuse is, “I just don’t have a desire to study God’s Word.” But we shouldn’t be surprised by this.
New Taste Buds
I remember the first time I went to Heather’s house for dinner after we finally started dating. When I was growing up, my dad didn’t like seafood, so no one in my family ate it. I didn’t even like the smell of it. But that night at dinner, seafood was served, and in order to make a good impression on Heather’s family, even though I couldn’t stand the taste, I ate every bit of it. Heather’s family was convinced I loved it—so much so that whenever I ate with them, they would serve seafood. As a result, I now love seafood. Why? Because I had to learn to love it to get a wife!
In all seriousness, my taste buds changed. The more I ate seafood, the more I learned to enjoy it. I think one of the reasons we don’t desire God’s Word is because our taste buds are so accustomed to the things of this world. We fill our stomachs with so many empty calories (like five or more hours of messages from the world on our screens every day), and as a result, we’re not hungry for God’s Word. But what might happen if we took the time to feast on Scripture instead of all the measly morsels the world offers us? Might our taste buds change?
Gentle Words of Advice
Whenever someone tells me, “I just don’t desire God’s Word, and I don’t know how to change that,” I always give them three gentle words of advice: Read. God’s. Word. I’m confident that when someone who has the Spirit of God in them reads the Bible day in and day out the right way, their spiritual taste buds will be totally transformed. They will discover how God’s Word is infinitely better than everything else in this world, and they will experience the truth from this passage:
The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant
warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
– Psalm 19:7–11
An Invitation to True Joy
I invite you to decide today to let go of any excuse for not studying the Bible. Your Creator loves you so much that He has supernaturally inspired His Word to show you who He is and how you can experience abundant, eternal life in relationship with Him. His Word is unlike anything else in the world: it is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, righteous, more valuable than millions of dollars, and more satisfying than the finest of foods.
We live in a fallen world full of unfulfilled desires, unmet expectations, broken relationships, hollow pursuits, fleeting pleasures, pain, sorrow, anxiety, depression, despair, fear, and discouragement. Don’t you want to experience everlasting joy, life-changing awe, otherworldly wisdom, death-defying courage, never-ending peace, and indescribable love? Then study the Word of the One who guarantees you all of this reward and more when you hear and obey him. It’s time to realize that your life here on earth—and for all of eternity—depends on listening and responding to God’s Word.
This is an excerpt from David Platt’s New Book, “How to Read the Bible”.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
