I have lots of conversations with non-Christians. Non-Christians who claim to be Christian. The conversation goes something like this . . .
“Would you consider yourself to be a Christian?”
“Yes.”
“Do you mind explaining what you mean by that? In your opinion, what does it mean to be a Christian?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it. I think it means . . . you believe in God and go to church?”
“What do you think happens when a person dies? Have you thought much about heaven or hell? Do you think you’ll go to heaven when you die? Why?”
“Yeah, I’ll go to heaven because I’m a pretty good person.”
. . . so we talk about the Bible’s definition of “Christian” which is somehow completely missed by the “Christian” world.
Now, imagine I asked you, “Do you love the Bible?”
As a Christian, your answer would probably be, “Yes.”
Of course you love the Bible. That’s what Christians do. You carry it with you to church on Sunday. You read a few verses now and then. You use it to prove your points or to search for a particular answer to a life question, because you believe the Bible is trustworthy. Sufficient. The very Word of God.
But do you love it?
Could you explain to me how or why you love it? Could you show me that your claim to love the Bible actually indicates a genuine reality in your life?
Do you love it as you love other things? Do you spend your time there? Do you devour it like you do your food? Do you check it like you do your phone? Do you want it to be embedded in your mind and soul like the music on replay and the books and movies you quote incessantly?
We can say we love the Bible all day long, but do we love it?
[image credit: unsplash.com]
Journey of the Word 
Wow, definitely thought-provoking! I think that “love” is such a subjective term nowadays. People say they love just about everything…a specific food, the words on a shirt, or an image on Instagram. I think if we were able to expand on our vocabulary a bit more then we may not hear the word “love” in the sacred sense, used in regard to the bible. We might just hear proclaims that sound more like “I respect it,” “I trust it,” or “I believe it.” Great post!
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So true!
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I just gotta say, “Ouch!” I do love the Bible. The older I get and the more I read it, the more I love it and want to be in it. But when you go asking questions like do you check it as much as you check your phone?…that makes me step back and ponder. I want to love it more than any book I’ve ever read or any status or any relationship. Thank you for asking hard questions. I honestly don’t like hard questions, but they make me think, and you made your point!
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Yes! This post is very convicting for me, too!
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I do love it but I’m not always happy about these conversations, sometimes, it’s like fellow Christians don’t know what I’m talking about.
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I’m not sure I follow. Do you mind explaining or elaborating?
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I do love the Word. Sometimes people don’t understand that.
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I had to think twice when you asked the question. There are so many stories, verses, and illustrations that I love in the Bible, but do I love it?…Excellent point…
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WOW. The thought of checking the Bible more than my phone. That one hurt. I can honestly say that it is hard for me to dig into the Word sometimes. Sometimes I don’t enjoy it. Sometimes I’d rather be doing something else. But how inspiring is this? I love God and I love his Word, but for some reason I have second guessed how MUCH I love it because of how little I truly dig into it.
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Lydia, this is really good. And yes, to repeat what others have said, it is “thought provoking”. Yes, I do love the Bible, but no, I do not devour it or dig into as I should. Thank you so much.
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