How Much Time Do You Spend Studying the Bible?

True devotional Bible reading means more than merely reading the Scriptures. Today, R.C. Sproul looks at the distinction between reading and studying God’s Word.

How much time do you spend studying the Scriptures? 

There’s a difference between studying the Scriptures and reading the Scripture. I know we have this thing in our Christian jargon about having our devotions and about the so-called devotional reading of the Bible. And again, I think that’s wonderful that we have daily Bible readings, but let’s not deceive ourselves in the thinking that if we read a passage of Scripture, and we’re not earnestly seeking to understand what it’s saying, we are not showing any devotion to God whatsoever. 

C.S. Lewis once made a statement that he could never really figure out the distinction between studying the Bible and a devotional reading of the Bible. We should always be studying what we’re reading and be devoted to that which we are studying. But we’ve sort of given ourselves license to a kind of casual, superficial, look or glance at the Scripture where we read the passage, say a prayer, and think that we’ve just dedicated ourselves to learning the things of God. Where many times what it takes is the hard work of saying, “What does this text say? What does it mean? I may need help here. I may need to look at some commentaries. I may need to talk to my pastor, but I want to understand the Word of God.” That’s, what's going to make the difference in your life, not how many times you can punch your time clock and say, “Well, I read my daily devotions today.”  Devote yourself to the study of God. That’s what devotional reading is.