Can You Afford to Spend Time in the Bible?

Posted on Feb 06, 2020 Topic : Inspirational/Devotional, Men's Christian Living, Women's Christian Living
Posted by : Ruth Chou Simons and Troy Simons

When our six boys were young, one was a horrible sleeper for a season and we were up with him several times a night. One morning, flustered and angry over the exhaustion I felt, I looked over and saw my husband, Troy, getting out of bed to spend time in the Word.

“How can you afford to get up and read your Bible?" I asked. "I’m so exhausted and fed up with the lack of sleep!”

Troy gently confessed: “Babe, honestly, I’m not sure if I can afford not to.”

To this day, every morning Troy gets up before the sun rises to “get his heart happy in the Lord” (a phrase from his favorite George Mueller quote). And the happiness must be contagious because each of our boys eventually trickles downstairs to join him, starting with our oldest man cub. They start every morning in an embrace, and when I catch it out of the corner of my eye, I get a glimpse of what it’s like when we meet with the Lord each day.

We meet with Him, go to the Word, linger in its pages, and pour out our hearts to God in praise and pleading. It’s not to merely be more knowledgeable, have more tools, be more literate, or do our duty. Instead, we meet to enter our Father’s embrace of intimacy, freedom, trust, and character—all of which we can’t know apart from knowing Him.

If you’re looking to be more consistent in your Bible time, if you desire for your children to develop a love for God’s Word, remind yourself that the Bible is a love letter and a hearty meal at your Father’s table. God is already there, waiting for you with arms wide open. We need to come, enjoy the feast and, as parents, show our kids by example where the feasting begins and why He is worthy.

Meeting with God and studying His Word may seem like it should be natural, easy, and enjoyable for “godly people,” but the truth is, it takes work and an investment of time for everyone.

But if your life is like mine, you can’t afford not to make time to be in the Word. Deep relationships, maturity, growth, a disciplined life…these things do not just happen.

The reality is that we demonstrate what is important to us by what we make time for.

If I want real conversations with my kids, I have to make time.
If I want my husband to know my heart, I must prioritize time to make it accessible.
If I want to know my Savior more deeply, I must sow seeds of time in His Word.

The only time I have to spend is the time that is still to come. I can’t reassign past moments or reprioritize yesterday’s minutes. But I can choose what I will value today by how I spend my time.