In the world of Harry Potter, Harry comes across a magical map that will show him where everyone is in the Hogwarts castle allowing him to move about freely and carefully. The Marauder’s Map becomes something the Harry holds onto tightly, consults often, and it would be fair to say that at times it even saves his life. Humans have been given a book that will save their lives, but we don’t cling nearly as tightly to it as Harry clings to the Marauder’s Map.
In ministry, I’m consistently surprised to find that Christians don’t read their Bibles. Many have never read through it entirely yet would say they believe what is in there. Many aren’t reading at least five minutes a day (which is not near enough anyway). I’ve even been shocked to find that people I think of as mature believers are not opening their Bibles.
God has given us a map for life. It’s not magic; it is divine. This map is inspired, inerrant, and authoritative, or in other words, it was written by God of the universe, it is without error, and it tells us how to thrive in His world. Why wouldn’t we use this map?
The Bible is the greatest book of all time. God literally speaks to you when you read the Bible. I’m unsure who to attribute it to, but there’s a famous quote that says, “If you want to hear from God, read your Bible. If you want to hear Him audibly, read it out loud.”
I also continually tell the students that I minister to that God created our world and He’s given us a Bible to teach us how to best live and thrive in His world. Why wouldn’t we read it? In fact, why wouldn’t we read it like our life depends on it? Because it does!
To throw one more quote at you, John Piper says this, “Satan devotes 168 hours a week trying to deceive you. Do you think you can maintain a renewed mind with a ten-minute glance at God’s book once a day?”
How true is that!? Many aren’t in their Bibles daily. Others act like a few minutes or a short devotion each day checks off their spiritual discipline box. However, if we want to be holy and righteous then we must treat the Bible like the sword it is. We must learn how to use it forward and backward. We must train with it. If we want to look like Christ then we need to memorize Scripture like Christ!
Our lives depend on being in our Bibles. We should start using them like that. We should start carrying them like that. They truly are the map we should cling to that can save our lives.
In case you’re interested, I’m linking a couple of Bibles I really like that make me want to be in them and fall on the more affordable end of the spectrum.
ESV Creeds and Confessions Bible
LSB Handy Size Inner Column Reference
NKJV Sovereign Collection Personal Size Reference
Mischief Managed.
Cam Hyde 
Leave a comment