The gulf between wanting to do something and actually doing it often feels enormous. I want to be a better husband, but how do I get there? I want to stop looking at pornography but I can’t break the addiction. I want to wake up early every morning and read my Bible, but I keep hitting the snooze.
Spending time in God’s Word is something that a lot of Christian men struggle with, including myself. If we aren’t building that foundation of faith, we will continue to let our addictions beat us, and we will continue to struggle to be the leaders, husbands and fathers we desire to be.
As Christians, we believe that the Bible is God’s divinely inspired Word. God’s divinely inspired word, wow! “All scripture is God-breathed…” (2 Timothy 3:16).
This shows us that when we spend time in God’s Word we are hearing directly from God, and ultimately growing closer to Him.
A LifeWay Research study found that only 45 percent of those who regularly attend church read the Bible more than once a week. Over 40 percent of the people attending read their Bible maybe once or twice a month. Almost 1 in 5 churchgoers say they NEVER read the Bible.
As a new Christian, I would read my Bible every single day, often more than once a day. I took it with me everywhere I went. I couldn’t get enough of it. Fast forward 10 years later, and I admit the luster has faded. I have found myself in a dry season.
For the past 12 months, I have found myself coasting through my relationship with Jesus, rather than passionately pursuing Him.
Maybe that’s you too. As the research statistics above show, as the Body of Christ, we are doing a terrible job at reading God’s Word. I think it’s safe to say, I’m not alone in this dry season. My question to you is, how do we get back on track? How do we get back to that place of awe and wonder that we had as new Christians? How do we cross that gulf from want to action?
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT)
Men, God has NOT given us a spirit of fear. Every time you hit the snooze and skip that 30 minutes with God, or think you will never be that spiritual leader your wife needs, or will never break your pornography addiction, that is NOT from God. That is the enemy, the Devil, telling you that you aren’t good enough, that you are lazy, that you can’t and won’t do it. But God says you have what it takes, because he has given you a spirit of POWER and SELF-DISCIPLINE.
A great friend of mine recently shared with me that when you continue to tap into the same well, time and time again, that eventually that well will run dry. It was a perfectly timed statement. It was just what I needed to hear.
If you have been doing the same thing with the same results, do something different. Change it up. Instead of spending 45 minutes at home in God’s Word, go out and spend 45 minutes sitting by a river.
We can’t do this alone. We need men, like the friend I mentioned above, that speak life, that encourage, that challenge. If you don’t have that in your life, find it today. Talk to your pastor, join a men’s Bible study, find an accountability partner, seek out a mentor.
It’s time to stop living in this place of want with no action, allowing fear and timidity to win out. Step into action, step into a spirit of power, that God himself has given you!