LISTEN to God’s voice!
I believe God wants to connect with you. Always.
Because He loves you.
But how does He speak to you?
Automatically, we think of the Bible. Many years ago, I took it for granted that the only way to grow spiritually is to read the Bible every day. And when I met people who were not reading the Bible daily, I looked down at them as spiritually immature.
But I realized that I was wrong.
Because God speaks through many ways. Yes, His voice in Scriptures is very special. But His voice is also loud and clear in other channels.
What is required is that you listen to God speaking to you every day.
Listen to God’s Voice.
Here’s a big question…
“Should I Read the Bible Daily?”
Let me give you my controversial answer: Daily Bible Reading is 1000% recommended—but it’s NOT required to please God or grow spiritually.
Here’s one reason …
People in the Bible Didn’t Read Their Bibles Every Day
I’m talking about Abraham. Moses. Joshua. Isaiah. Jeremiah. Even Jesus and the Apostles. None of them carried a Bible under their armpit. Simply because the Bible in book form would appear more than thousand years later.
Before Johannes Guttenberg invented the Printing Press in 1454, there were no Bibles as we know them today. The Bible was handwritten, word for word, by monks in monasteries. It would take one year to finish one or two books of the Bible. And there are 72 books! If it takes at least 50 years to write one Bible, can you imagine how expensive a Bible was?
This is an 800-year-old Bible found in Ethiopia.
If reading the Bible daily is a daily requirement for spiritual growth, then that means that all the Christians before the year 1500 were spiritual immature. But that’s not true. Here’s my question: For 1500 years, what did the Christians do to grow in their spiritual life if they couldn’t read the Bible?
Someone might say, “Bo, wait a minute. If they didn’t have a personal Bible, how can they follow Joshua 1:8?” Here is the passage: Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. (Joshua 1:8 NIV). We read this verse based on our reality. We think every good Jew has a scroll of God’s Law under his armpit. Not quite.
Here’s the answer: They prayed the Bible. Most Jews didn’t read the Bible. First of all, they didn’t have a Bible. Second, in ancient times, 95% of the population were illiterate.
But all of them could pray the Bible. That’s why Joshua 1:8 says, “Meditate on it day and night…” because Jews prayed every morning and evening the Shema Yisrael, which are the first two words of Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength…
Recommendations vs. Rules
A lot of people are carrying a lot of useless guilt about not reading the Bible daily. Why? I’ve noticed that religious people (and that includes me) have a tendency to turn recommendations into rules. We should stop doing that. In the end, I believe there’s only one requirement: Love. The greatest commandment is to love God and love others. Everything else are recommendations.
Let me give you another example. Once, I attended Mass and the priest said, “If you love God, you should pray the Rosary every day.” That’s an example of our tendency to turn a recommendation into a rule. That statement is wrong. Because the priest is saying that if I don’t pray the Rosary every day, I don’t love God.
What works for me may not work for you.
Confession: I appreciate the Rosary. It’s a beautiful 800-year-old prayer of many devout Catholics. And I pray the Rosary with my family as much as I can. But I don’t pray the Rosary every day. Because I have many other ways of connecting with God.
There are some days when I can’t read the Bible. (Very rare, because it’s part of my ministry work.) But I still listen to His voice in other ways. Yes, the Bible is the Word. But as Catholics, we believe God speaks through other beautiful ways.
May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez
