"I learned recently that while 88% of American homes have at least 1 Bible (most own 4 or more), less than 40% of Americans read the Bible regularly. Worse, 1 in 5 churchgoers never reads the Bible. It's easy to find excuses for not reading God's Word: we're too busy, the Bible is too confusing, and we don't know where to begin. How can we get past the excuses and make reading the Bible a priority!"

Does that sound right to you?

I mean we have probably a dozen or more Bible in our home. Then it says that less than 40% of us read them regularly. I'm not sure how regular is regularly? Actually I very seldom read the Bible myself, though Cheryl is often reading hers as I come to bed.

My problem is not that I don't read the Bible, but I can't read the actual Bible any more. It's too small, but with it on my computer screen, I'm in it regularly. But to say that only 20% of churchgoers bother to ever read it seens astonishing and sad.

If our excuse is that we're too busy, then we know we're busier than God ever intended us to be.

If it's too confusing, then we need to seek help from a Bible teacher of Elder in our churches to help us in understanding it better.

That we don't know where to begin is pretty lame. Some of our church even provide a Bible reading guide for us, even a one-minutes daily Bible reading selection.

So, I suppose it doesn't really matter to the Lord if we care to read the guidebook He left for us, or not . . . on the other hand, how would you feel if the person you loved never bothered to read your love notes to them?

I'm just saying . . .

Kent Ross (Used with permission from Thrive Ministries by Kent Ross)