The Power to Change

2 Timothy 3:16,17 All Scripture is given by God. And all Scripture is useful for teaching and for showing people what is wrong in their lives. It is useful for correcting faults and teaching the right way to live. Using the Scriptures, those who serve God will be prepared and will have everything they need to do every good work.

If I were to ask you, what’s the one thing that you can do, that will, more than any other, help you grow in spiritual maturity, what would your answer be? Well, there’s a crowd that asked over 130,000 Christians that very same question – and the answer might surprise you.

Invariably it’s the same so-called Christians whose Bibles are gathering dust on a shelf somewhere, whose lives are in a mess. Now that may sound a little harsh but it just happens to be true.

A crowd called the Centre for Bible Engagement in the USA decided to do some serious research about the impacts, not surprisingly, of difference levels of Bible engagement. They wanted to know of all the things that Christians do to express their faith – prayer, giving, worship, service, going to church … all that stuff … which one most contributes to spiritual growth and maturity? A good question.

As I said, it was serious research. They surveyed over 130,000 Christians in more than 20 countries. The result was a real stand-out.

The one thing that stood head and shoulders above anything else, the one thing that more than any other led to spiritual maturity and growth, was reading the Bible four times a week or more.

In fact, the head researcher said to me: The statistical correlation between reading your Bible four times a week or more and spiritual maturity, is stronger than the statistical correlation between smoking and lung cancer.

Who would have thought? The Bible. Power to Change.

2 Timothy 3:16,17 All Scripture is given by God. And all Scripture is useful for teaching and for showing people what is wrong in their lives. It is useful for correcting faults and teaching the right way to live. Using the Scriptures, those who serve God will be prepared and will have everything they need to do every good work.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.