4 Things You Are Missing Out On If You Are Not Reading The Bible

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. - Psalm 119:105

Many of you may know who Jesus is. You may call yourself a Christian. You may go to church weekly. You may even go to a bible study. But do you read God’s Word on your own during the week? If your answer is “no”, then I truly believe you are missing out!

My story:

When I was a freshman in college, I began to learn about Jesus for the first time. Someone met with me weekly to show me about the Bible and we read it together. As I read the Bible in my dorm room every single day, my whole life began to transform. I always thought “religion” was a boring set of rules and reading the Bible was some robotic, obligatory thing that religious people did. But as I read the Gospel of Matthew (the first book of the Bible that I read), I began to feel so close and connected to the person of Jesus! It would randomly make me cry, sometimes my heart would pound extra fast, and almost every time I read the Word, I would end up journaling and praying as a response to what I read. God captured my heart as I read all about him. 6 years later and I am still obsessed with reading the Bible. It allows me to learn about God, connect with Him, be encouraged and inspired, and be sanctified by the Holy Spirit as I read.

 

Below are FOUR things you are missing out on if you are not reading the Bible:

1. To Know God More Deeply

Every time we open God’s Word, it is an opportunity to learn more about God. Do you want to know more about God? Imagine you and I are sitting at a coffee shop together. You start to ask me about my husband Trevor. You say, “Tell me what Trevor is like!”. I respond with, “Well, he’s about 5’11” and he is a youth pastor”. “That’s cool… but tell me what he is like!” “Well, he’s about 5’11” and he is a youth pastor.” Can you imagine if that’s all that I knew about my husband?!?! You would think, “wow, she must not really know Trevor.” When in reality, because I have studied Trevor, lived with him, asked him tons of questions, I know how funny he is, his fear of moths, his love for cooking shows, and how he is patient and loyal no matter what craziness is going on around him. Do you get what I'm saying?

I truly think it is the same with God. Do you know what God is like? What does he love? What does he hate? What are some character traits of his? Let’s be people who are always learning more about God. Let’s be people who, when asked about what Jesus is like, we could elaborately talk about our Savior!

2. To Be With God

If you want a relationship with someone, you have to spend time with them! Often, the more time you spend with that person, the deeper the connection. When we read God’s Word, we are engaged in a two way conversation with Him. When I open my Bible, I always think, what does God have to say today? Do you ever wish you could hear God’s voice? I have your solution. You can read your Bible! The Bible is full of God’s promises to us, stories that he is telling us directly, teachings for the world and for us individually. Don’t miss out on hearing God’s voice and spending time in a two way conversation with Him!

3. To Understand The Truth of Reality

Lately more than ever I have been hungry for truth… hungry for something I can trust and truly base my view of the world on. Can we trust the news? Can we trust gossip? Can we trust the social media? Can we trust people’s word? These are all questions I ask! In our culture today, it is so easy to be confused by compelling stories and ideas. With so many messages and ideas flooding our hearts and minds from all directions, it can be difficult to discern what is true and what is untrue.  Every time I begin to feel the tension of not knowing what is true, I go to the Bible.

Voices in today's culture are telling us: “You are not skinny enough, you are not good enough, you are close minded, you have nothing to offer to anyone, etc”… How do we know if this is true? We must go to the Bible! Read what God thinks of you. Read about the plan God has for your life. Read about the plan God has for his people and for the world. Begin to decipher what is true and what is not. If you miss out on reading God’s truth about you, think of ALL the lies you may believe.

4. To Be Equipped to Follow Jesus

Many of you are tuning into this website because you want to learn how to follow Jesus and be an athlete. I hope so far you have been encouraged and inspired to live for God in your sport and in your lives. However, you can also be learning directly from the source! Almost every single day that I read God’s Word, I come away with some action step. Whether it is a general encouragement like: “I want to pray for patience today, because Jesus was so patient” Or something specific like: “Today I am going to text my friend Julia because this verse made me think of her.”

My last encouragement:

Imagine if you went to God’s word daily, eager to learn more about him, eager to spend time with him and hear his voice, hungry for truth about yourself and about the world, and ready to learn how to follow God with our lives. Do you think our lives would look different? I do!

Do you want to read the Bible but not know where to start? Let's read the Gospel of Matthew together! We think the best place to start is the Gospels, which are eye-witness accounts of the life, teaching, and ministry of Jesus Christ. If we want to follow Jesus, let us get to know the One we are following!

Natalie Lawrence

Hey FAM! I work for Fellowship of Christian Athletes where I specifically run a soccer ministry. I coach soccer all over Orange County and work with female athletes of all ages. I grew up in Southern California and played soccer at Point Loma Nazarene University where I studied exercise science and theology. My passion is to encourage others and bring them closer to Jesus!