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I love a good book. I enjoy listening to a good sermon, hearing someone explain Scripture, or listening to a Christian podcast while I'm driving or working. There are some wonderful pastors, authors, and teachers who have spent years studying God's Word and sharing what they've learned with others. I've been blessed by many of them, and I believe God uses these brothers and sisters in Christ to help us grow in our faith. But lately, I've been thinking about something that has caused me to examine my own habits. How much time do I spend listening to someone tell me about God compared to opening the Bible and reading what God Himself has said?

I'll admit that my own Bible-reading habits aren't anything to brag about. Sometimes I'm consistent, and sometimes I'm not. It's easier to turn on something that plays in the background or pick up a book where someone has already done the work of explaining what I'm supposed to understand. I enjoy those things, and I've learned a great deal from them. Yet I also know that something is missing when those become my primary source of spiritual nourishment. Listening to someone talk about God isn't the same experience as sitting down, opening His Word, and allowing Scripture to speak into my life.

That brings me to a distinction I've been considering: the Word versus words. Not because the words of pastors, authors, or other Christians are bad, but because they are not the same as God's inspired Word. Those individuals can be wonderful blessings, but they are still human. They can misunderstand Scripture, make mistakes, or allow their own opinions to influence what they teach. God's Word, however, comes from God Himself. It is our foundation for understanding who He is, what He has done, and how He calls us to live.

Paul explains this in his second letter to Timothy.

“All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration]...” — 2 Timothy 3:16 (AMP, excerpt)

Think about what that means. Scripture wasn't simply written by people who had interesting thoughts about God. God inspired human authors to communicate His message. They wrote within their own historical settings, using their own languages and writing styles, but the message of Scripture is God's revelation to humanity, to you and me. When we open the Bible, we are receiving something far greater than another person's understanding of God. We are reading what God chose to reveal.

There's another distinction worth making. Scripture identifies Jesus Christ as the living Word in John 1:1–14. The Bible is not God Himself, but it is God's inspired written Word, and through it we learn about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We discover His character, His promises, His commands, and His plan of salvation. We learn what it means to follow Christ and grow in our relationship with Him.

Consider some of the people in Scripture who heard directly from God. Moses encountered God at the burning bush. Samuel heard God call his name. Elijah experienced God's presence at Horeb. Paul encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. How many times have we read those accounts and wondered what it would be like if God spoke directly to us? Wouldn't it be amazing to hear His voice, to know what He wanted us to understand, or to receive direction straight from Him?

But here's something I've been thinking about. God has already spoken, and He's given us His Word.

We have sixty-six books of Scripture, written across many generations, containing thousands of verses and hundreds of thousands of words. Through them, God has revealed His character, His expectations, His promises, His love, His judgment, and His plan for our salvation. We don't have to wait for a burning bush or an audible voice from heaven to discover what God wants us to know about Him. We can open the Bible.

Now, that doesn't mean every verse was originally addressed to us personally. Understanding Scripture requires us to recognize an important distinction between who it was written to and who it was written for.

Consider Genesis. Traditionally attributed to Moses, it was written in the context of God's relationship with Israel. Paul wrote his letter to the churches in Galatia to address specific problems they were facing. Luke addressed both his Gospel and the book of Acts to Theophilus. Each of these writings had an original audience, a particular historical setting, and a message those readers needed to understand.

We weren't standing among the Israelites when Moses taught them. We weren't sitting in a Galatian church when Paul's letter arrived. We weren't Theophilus receiving Luke's account. Those writings weren't originally addressed to us, but they were written for us.

Paul makes this point in Romans 15:4.

“For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction...” — Romans 15:4 (AMP, excerpt)

God intended Scripture to teach His people across generations. That doesn't mean every command or promise applies to every believer in exactly the same way. We must understand what a passage meant to its original audience before considering how it applies to us. But the entirety of Scripture is valuable for our understanding of God and His work. From Genesis through Revelation, God has given us a message we cannot afford to ignore.

Think about that for a moment. The Creator of the universe has given us His Word, preserved across centuries, translated into languages we can understand, and made available for us to read. We have access to something generations of believers could only have dreamed of possessing so easily.

Yet how often does it sit unopened?

I find myself returning to last week's discussion about walking in the Spirit. In Galatians 5:16–23, Paul contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit. He describes the attitudes and behaviors that arise from our sinful nature, then shows us the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that the Holy Spirit produces in us.

When I spend time in Scripture, I find myself in a good place. A safe place. My attention is directed toward God rather than everything happening around me. His Word causes me to examine my thoughts, my attitudes, and my actions. It reminds me of who I am in Christ and who He is continuing to shape me to become.

That doesn't mean merely opening a Bible automatically makes someone walk in the Spirit. We must approach Scripture with a willingness to listen and respond. But I know that when I am genuinely engaging with God's Word, I am drawing closer to Him. I'm allowing His truth to influence my thinking rather than simply accepting whatever the world places in front of me.

Hebrews 4:12 explains why Scripture has such an impact.

“For the word of God is living and active and full of power...” — Hebrews 4:12 (AMP, excerpt)

God's Word does more than provide information. It examines us. It exposes our thoughts and intentions. Sometimes it encourages us, sometimes it challenges us, and sometimes it reveals things about ourselves that we'd rather not confront. Yet those moments are part of the Holy Spirit's work of sanctification, helping us recognize where we need to change and drawing us closer to Christ.

And that's something I don't always experience in the same way when I'm listening to someone else teach. I may learn something valuable from a sermon or book, but I can also become a passive listener. I can allow someone else to do the studying, the examining, and the thinking for me. I can hear what they concluded without ever opening Scripture to discover why.

That brings us to an important example from the early church.

In Acts 17:10–12, Paul and Silas traveled to Berea, where they began teaching in the synagogue. The people there received their message eagerly, but they did something else that Scripture specifically praises. They examined the Scriptures daily to determine whether what they were being taught was true.

Think about who was teaching them. It was the apostle Paul! Yet the Bereans didn't simply accept everything because the speaker was respected or knowledgeable. They listened, and then they examined God's Word. That's what it means to be a Berean.

It doesn't mean distrusting every pastor, teacher, or Christian author. It means listening with an open heart while keeping our Bibles open as well. We should appreciate the people God uses to teach us, but we should also examine their teaching against Scripture. We need to understand what God has actually said, not simply accept someone's interpretation because we enjoy listening to them.

This is especially important today. We have more access to Christian teaching than ever before. Sermons, podcasts, videos, devotionals, books, and social media provide an almost endless supply of people explaining Christianity. Some of that teaching is excellent. Some is mistaken. Some may even contradict Scripture.

How do we know the difference if we aren't familiar with God's Word ourselves?

I was recently listening to Pastor Gary Hamrick of Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia, as he discussed three ways people can or do mishandle Scripture: adding to it, subtracting from it, or omitting portions of it. He described adding as legalism and subtracting as liberalism. As I thought about his third category, omitting, I found that pragmatism was a fitting description. Consider what each of these approaches reveals about how we treat God's Word.

Legalism is adding human-made rules, requirements, or traditions to God's Word and treating them as though they carry the same authority as Scripture. We begin measuring righteousness or spiritual standing by standards God never established. Simply put, legalism is when we make God's requirements greater than what God Himself has commanded.

Jesus confronted this very issue when He challenged the Pharisees for elevating their traditions above God's commandments.

“You disregard and neglect the commandment of God, and cling [faithfully] to the tradition of men.” — Mark 7:8 (AMP)

The problem wasn't that the Pharisees had traditions. It was that they allowed those traditions to take the place of God's Word. We face the same danger whenever we make our own expectations or preferences requirements that God never established.

Liberalism is rejecting, redefining, or explaining away portions of God's Word because they conflict with our beliefs, desires, or the values of society. Rather than allowing Scripture to shape what we believe and how we live, we change its meaning or dismiss its authority to fit our preferences. Simply put, liberalism is when we make God's requirements less than what God Himself has commanded.

Paul warned Timothy that a time would come when people would no longer tolerate sound teaching. Instead, they would seek teachers who told them what they wanted to hear (2 Timothy 4:3–4).

That's the danger of subtracting from God's Word. When biblical truth becomes uncomfortable, we can be tempted to dismiss it rather than allow it to challenge us. But God's Word doesn't change simply because we don't like what it says.

Pragmatism is selectively ignoring, avoiding, or leaving out portions of God's Word because teaching or obeying them might be uncomfortable, unpopular, or costly. Rather than rejecting Scripture outright, we choose which truths to address based on what seems convenient or produces the results we want. Simply put, pragmatism is when we make God's requirements optional based on what works best for us. We don't necessarily deny God's Word; we simply choose not to address certain parts of it.

When Paul spoke to the elders of the church in Ephesus, he reminded them of his commitment to teaching God's truth, even when doing so was difficult.

“For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose and plan of God.” — Acts 20:27 (AMP)

Paul understood that faithfully teaching God's Word meant communicating the whole message, not simply the parts people wanted to hear. We need that same commitment, both in what we teach others and in what we're willing to hear ourselves.

These labels describe particular ways of mishandling Scripture, not everyone who identifies with a theological or political viewpoint. Yet the underlying dangers are real, and none of us is immune to them.

That's another reason we need to be Bereans. If we aren't personally familiar with Scripture, how will we recognize when someone adds to it, subtracts from it, or conveniently leaves something out? More importantly, how will we recognize when we're doing those things ourselves?

We need to become Bereans, people who are eager to learn but committed to examining what we hear through Scripture. That requires us to read the Bible, understand its context, and become increasingly familiar with the message God has given us.

There's another thought that has stayed with me as I've considered all of this.

One of my favorite Christian songs to think about is I Can Only Imagine by MercyMe. The song considers what it might be like when we finally stand before Jesus. Will we be able to speak? Will we fall to our knees? Will we simply worship in awe of His presence?

Those are powerful questions. But what does Scripture tell us about encountering God's glory?

In Isaiah 6, Isaiah sees the Lord and becomes overwhelmed by an awareness of God's holiness and his own sinfulness. In Revelation 1, John encounters the glorified Christ and falls at His feet. Revelation 4 and 5 describe worship surrounding God's throne, with those in heaven giving Him glory and honor. Philippians 2 tells us that every knee will bow at the name of Jesus.

Scripture doesn't describe exactly how each of us will react when we first stand before Christ. But it makes one thing clear: God's glory will command our attention.

Imagine finally standing in the presence of Jesus. Would we walk past Him to find someone else who could tell us what He's like? Would we ignore the Father so we could ask someone else to explain what He thinks?

Of course not. We would want to be with Him, to know Him, to hear Him, and to worship Him.

Yet here we are, with God's inspired Word available to us right now, and how often do we choose to listen to someone talk about Him rather than spend time with what He has already revealed?

I realize what some of you may be thinking.

Great. We need to read the Bible more. Thank you, Captain Obvious!

I get it. That's hardly a new message. We've heard it in church, Sunday school, Bible studies, and sermons throughout our lives. Most of us know we're supposed to read Scripture.

But knowing something and doing it are two very different things.

I'm not writing this because I've figured it out. I'm writing it because I haven't. My own habits need improvement. I know how easy it is to let other things take priority, even good Christian things. I can listen to a sermon, enjoy a book, or follow a Bible teacher and feel like I've spent time growing spiritually. Sometimes I have. But those things shouldn't replace personally engaging with God's Word.

This isn't about counting minutes. I'm not suggesting we should spend a certain amount of time reading Scripture before we're allowed to listen to a podcast or enjoy a Christian book. The issue is much deeper than that.

Whose words are shaping our understanding of God?

God has blessed His church with pastors, teachers, authors, and fellow believers who help us grow. We should continue learning from them. But their words must always be measured against His Word. Their teaching should lead us toward Scripture, not become a substitute for it.

We have been given an extraordinary gift. God has spoken through His inspired Word. He has revealed His character, His plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, and His desire for how we should live. He has given us Scripture to teach us, correct us, encourage us, and help us grow closer to Him.

We don't have to wonder whether God has anything to say to us. The question is whether we're willing to open His Word and listen.

One Step Closer: This week, don't simply make a promise to read your Bible more. Instead, consider what it means that God Himself has given you His Word. Open your Bible because you want to know Him, not because you're trying to complete another task. Read with a willingness to understand what God has revealed and respond to what He teaches you. Continue enjoying good sermons, books, and Christian teaching, but be a Berean. Examine what you hear against Scripture, and let God's Word remain the foundation of your faith. Don't allow the words of others, no matter how helpful they may be, to replace the Word God has given you.

God has spoken. Open His Word, listen to Him, and take one step closer to Christ.