After I graduated from college, I spent ten years in the business world before becoming a pastor. Most of that time I worked as a salesman. In that profession I learned the importance of convincing the customer of the amazing benefits of my product. One person put it this way, “Don’t sell the steak; sell the sizzle.”

I have been thinking about that in light of a challenge we’ve given the members of Bethel Chapel Church to read the Bible in 2017. Christians know that the Bible is the only reliable source of truth, but surveys show that very few actually read it regularly.

For example, “LifeWay Research surveyed more than 2,900 Protestant churchgoers and found that while 90 percent ‘desire to please and honor Jesus in all I do,’ only 19 percent personally read the Bible every day.”

[See https://goo.gl/36n99x]

Why don’t more Christians read the Bible regularly? There is no way for me to know all the reasons, but many Christians must not understand the many benefits reading the Bible can bring. In light of that, let me share a few powerful reasons for regular Bible reading.

#1. Bible reading helps us make better decisions in our everyday lives. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). Decisions are often difficult because the future is murky, but the Bible provides valuable guidance. Pastor John Piper said, “When we live by faith in God’s promise of future grace, it will be very hard for anxiety to survive in our hearts.” I know this works because I’ve done it so many times myself.

#2. Bible reading helps to avoid sins before we commit them. This prevents a lot of grief we would endure later. “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Lord; teach me Your statutes” (Psalm 119:9–12).

#3. Bible reading helps us spend more time focusing on God. “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10). Notice this promise: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you….” (James 4:8).

#4. Bible reading encourages us during life’s trials. “This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your word has revived me….You are near, O Lord, and all Your commandments are truth. Of old I have known from Your testimonies that You have founded them forever. Look upon my affliction and rescue me, for I do not forget Your law” (Psalm 119:50, 151–153).

#5. Bible reading gives us more reasons to praise God. “Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word! Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, you who serve Him, doing His will” (Psalm 103:20–21).

#6. Bible reading leads us to fall in love with God and His grace. What is grace? In the Bible it is called the Gospel, or good news. It is through the Gospel that, “you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:2–4). Wayne A. Grudem said that God’s grace is “…  God’s favor freely given to those who do not deserve this favor.” The more we learn that we don’t deserve, nor could we ever earn, God’s forgiveness, the more our love for Him grows. Charles Spurgeon points out that “Humble hearts seek grace, and therefore they get it.”

Learning about the glory and grace of God, it drives us to want to learn EVEN MORE about the glory and grace of God. That energizes us to read the Bible regularly. What could possibly be more important than knowing about the God who, “… is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (Jude 24–25)?