Think with me: How healthy would you be if you ate one or two meals a week?
Feeble and malnourished, right?
Unfortunately, that’s how some of us feed ourselves spiritually. We go to church on Sunday, maybe attend a midweek Bible study, and that’s about as far as our interaction with God’s Word goes.
Is it any wonder our faith wavers and our impact is minimal in a world crying out for a savior?
Just as your body cannot thrive on one meal a week, you cannot grow spiritually on Sunday sermons alone. You need a regular and personal encounter with God every day of the week.
This article advocates for why you need to read the Bible for yourself. But first, let’s highlight the dangers of outsourcing Bible reading to preachings and corporate gatherings.
The Problem with outsourcing Bible reading
Relying solely on what you hear in church on Sunday for your spiritual nourishment creates a spiritual gap. And it is problematic.
Here are three main reasons:
i. Adopting the preacher’s filter
Every human being is unique. As such, every preacher brings their unique personality, experiences, nuances, and theological training to the text.
This is natural, but it means you are receiving a curated message.
If you never open the Book for yourself, your understanding of God will be limited to someone else’s journey with Him. You will lack a personal experience with Scripture, hence miss out on personal conviction points.
That’s why you need to read the Bible for yourself and bring your uniqueness to the passage so it is easier to apply.
ii. The limited scope
A good sermon should be like a mini-skirt: short enough to arouse interest but long enough to cover the essentials, so the saying goes.
Rightly so.
Sermons are meant to be concise, punchy, and direct to the point. No matter how brilliant and fast a speaker you are, you cannot fit everything in the 40 or so minutes allocated for sermons.
This makes it inherently limited. It might cover a few verses, maybe a chapter.
But to understand those verses, you need the context of the chapters before and after, the whole book, and the broader biblical narrative.
So, when you only hear the snippets in sermons, you miss the profound literary and theological flow that reveals the depth of God’s word.
iii. Overreliance on spiritual authorities
A good preacher points people to God, not themselves, and does not seek to be a god in themselves.
However, when a believer relies solely on preachers for spiritual nourishment, they risk sliding into spiritual dependency syndrome.
This is whereby believers are always waiting for someone else to “hear from God” for them, as opposed to personal dependence on God’s Word.
If you take that path of dependence, sooner than later, your faith starts orbiting around personalities rather than Christ Himself. You begin quoting preachers more than Scripture and trusting human words more than divine truth.
Woe unto you if the preacher fails, stumbles, or changes doctrine. Your faith can collapse too because it was anchored in a person, not God’s Word.
Just as a child cannot live forever on their parents’ spoon-feeding, a Christian cannot mature by feeding only on what others prepare.
Sermons are meant to supplement your walk with God, not substitute it. A church is meant to be a recharging station. Go recharge, but continue feeding yourself every other day of the week.
That said, let’s get to the crux of the matter: reasons you need to read the Bible for yourself.
Why should you read the Bible for yourself?
Many reasons. Here are a few.
1. To protect yourself against false doctrine
Sad to say, some ministers are wolves in sheep’s clothing. You need to protect yourself from such.
How will you distinguish true from fake?
Discernment.
That is, being grounded in the truth of God, which comes from maintaining a consistent Bible reading habit.
If you don’t know the truth, everything goes, and you will be very susceptible to falling for false teachings.
Friend, beyond Sunday and other corporate gathering sharings, set aside quality time to read God’s Word and commune with Him.
There is no other way.
Christianity is personal before it is communal. Commune with God every day and let the spiritual food you receive during communal meetings only supplement your reserves.
Interestingly, communal meeting sessions tend to be more fruitful if individual believers have a meaningful communion with God at a personal level.
2. To avoid exploitation
Closely related to that, God primarily speaks to us through His Word. So, when you read the Bible for yourself, you not only protect yourself from false doctrine but also from exploitation.
Spiritual abuse is becoming rampant in today’s church. Some ministers are in ministry to serve their personal interests and not God’s. They look for any opportunities to exploit the saints.
Little wonder there is much talk of church hurt in Christian circles.
Knowing the Word for yourself also helps you vet what you hear in church, and protects you from such characters.
The words of your spiritual authorities should not be taken as the gospel truth or final. Being human, they could genuinely make mistakes. Others, as mentioned, are rogue, always looking for opportunities to exploit.
Your safety lies in making the Bible your friend. Filter what they tell you through the lens of the Bible.
If what they are saying is in line with the Biblical principles, you can consider it. However, if it contradicts the Bible, throw it out the window.
Paul invites the Corinthians to follow him as he follows Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1).
Likewise, follow any ministers only to the extent they are following Christ.
Simple.
If they are not following Christ (evidenced by a life and teaching aligned with Scripture), you have no business following them.
And if you are in a church that is always failing the scrutiny of Scripture, you are in the wrong place. You could easily be manipulated and abused.
Pack up and prayerfully seek out a sound church where your faith will be nourished through the Word.
3. To grow in the faith
Without nourishment, growth is impossible. In fact, the day you stop eating is the day you begin dying. Food is indispensable for every living creature.
As with our natural bodies, spiritual growth happens with good spiritual nourishment. A good, balanced spiritual diet.
Primarily, this entails taking in the bread of life, the Word of God. While I commend you for taking in some spiritual food in the snacks sermons are, go deeper.
Go for the solid food, the meat of the Word (1 Corinthians 3:1-3; Hebrews 5:11-14; 6:1-3).
That’s only possible when you read the Bible for yourself. Spiritual maturity comes from daily feeding on the Word.
Dig in and wrestle even with the difficult texts. Don’t delegate that noble duty to anyone. Not even the preacher you esteem so highly.
Instead, take on the nobility of the Bereans (Acts 17:11). After listening to the sermon, go back to your Bible and confirm what was said is really as written.
Moreover, meditate on Scripture all the time (Joshua 1:8).
Reading and meditating on Scripture are the essential disciplines that give you the spiritual muscle to fight temptation, forgive, wait, and persevere through trials.
It gives you the roots to endure when the storms hit.
4. To grow in intimacy with God
Reading the Bible for yourself also nurtures intimacy. It allows you to know God personally.
See, intimacy with God grows like any relationship: time and consistent communication.
The Word is how God speaks to us, and prayer is how we respond. Do both often.
If you only hear from God through someone else, whether a pastor, a devotion, or a sermon, then your relationship with God will always feel impersonal and distant.
You will know about Him but not know Him deeply.
Reading the Bible for yourself allows you to encounter God in the quiet of your own moments. This is where you learn His tone, character, and heart, fostering intimacy.
It’s so sweet to commune with God. The feeling is out of this world. I have no adjective to describe it. Plug in and feel it for yourself.
Taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).
5. To hear God for yourself
When you read the Bible for yourself, you get to hear God for yourself. Otherwise, if you outsource, you miss God’s personal voice.
Christianity is very specific. As much as we are the body of Christ and share a general experience of salvation, God deals with us individually.
See, we face different issues at any point in life. So, God often leads us to specific verses that address our unique situations, fears, or decisions in a given season.
If you rely only on sermons, you limit God’s opportunity to speak directly to your heart. And you risk a general Scriptural application that does not address your specific issues.
As such, endeavor to be in the Word for yourself. Let God customize His word for you.
6. To get the joy of discovery
The wise man made an interesting note: It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings (Proverbs 25:2).
There’s a unique delight that comes from personally uncovering truths in Scripture. When you wrestle with Scripture, pray, dig deep as you research, then boom, the verse suddenly makes sense.
It usually is very exciting and fulfilling. That’s the kingly joy of discovery.
Further, you tend to own the Word even more. You rarely forget when you finally understand what you wrestled with.
Outsourcing Bible reading means you miss that joy and freshness of discovery that deepens your love for God.
God sets some truths in the depths of Scripture; take the privilege and joy to uncover them. It’s like a sweet game of fetch.
Don’t settle for the summary and miss out on this joy. Fetch the deep truths of God when you read the Bible for yourself.
Dive into the grand narrative of God’s redemptive work the Bible is.
You will be amazed at how the story is richer, more complex, and more wonderfully cohesive than you ever imagined.
7. To be active in your faith journey
When you rely on others to explain everything, you stop engaging your mind and heart. You become a consumer rather than an active seeker of truth.
It is so sad because that should not be the reality for the new covenant believer.
In the old covenant, the priest was a mediator between God and the people. He would meet God, get the message, and transmit it to the people.
He would then get the people’s response back to God if need be.
The passive approach takes the new covenant believer back to the old covenant! What a pity!
Friend, it’s open heaven. Make good use of the new covenant privilege and commune with God directly.
Be an active participant in your faith journey. That starts by reading the Bible for yourself. You cannot afford to delegate. Then meditate on and apply it quickly.
That’s what God expects of you. Don’t violate God’s design.
Moreover, this active approach births conviction.
Your faith can become emotionally charged but spiritually shallow when your only engagement with Scripture is through church experiences.
You may feel strong on Sunday but fade by Wednesday. Personal Bible reading grounds your faith in conviction, not emotion.
Conclusion: Read the Bible for yourself
Your faith is too precious to outsource. God wants to speak to you, not just through a preacher, but directly through His living Word.
Don’t settle for secondhand revelation when you have full access to the Source. Open your Bible, and you’ll discover that God has been waiting to meet you there all along.
You just have to DIY it. Do it yourself. Read the Bible for yourself.
You can also read:
How to Read the Bible: 9 Must-Have Attitudes