Making an Idol out of Bible Study

Living and pastoring in a fairly religious culture puts me in contact with many Christians at different points in their Christian walk.  Some are seasoned individuals, who know and love the gospel well.  Others are young, zealous, and new to the faith.    

In this culture, we stress the importance of really good things - like church, good parenting, prayer, and bible study.  It is a common saying in the halls, "While in my devo's this morning, I learned..."  I love this about my life and friendships.  I love it that the first three people I usually encounter (other than my children) have first encountered God, in the Word and in prayer.  Again, I am truly grateful for this environment.

There are some dangers, however, lurking in these "religious" waters.  It is human nature to create an idol out of just about anything.  And as we know, idols lie.  The lies are not stupid though.  In a culture like ours, they take on religious tones - or, pretenses.  They are plausible.  Lane and Tripp say it well in their book, How People Change, "The lies that capture us as Christians usually seem to fit well within the borders of our Christianity."

In other words, it is quite possible to wake up one day thinking that your morning Bible study will save you.  You (or should I say "we")...WE read our chapters and then move about the day knowing that we have done what we were supposed to do.  We often say things like, "I have spent time with God today, therefore..." Now let me be clear.  I am not saying that a disciplined life in the Word is a bad thing.  I am saying that a disciplined life in the Word might be (or become) a bad thing, IF one uses it as a means to merit righteousness before God - when one makes an idol out of Bible study.

I guess a good question to ask is how a person knows when they have made an idol of Bible study.  Here are a few thoughts on the issue.  I don't pretend to know all indicators; but, being an idol making factory myself, I've had my share of encountering "idol indicators."  Here are a few that I have personally encountered.

If you feel as if you are condemned when you do not have your quiet time in the Bible, you have made an idol out of Bible study.  To put it another way, when people feel that Bible study saves them, then when they do not have Bible study, they don't feel saved or loved by God.  To the moms out there who are bombarded at the early hours of the morning by children who do not value sleeping in...though you aren't getting the physical rest you need, receive this spiritual rest for your soul - Christ alone saves you.  Read to your kids from a good children's Bible and be fed by God.  His grace is sufficient for you.

To the hard working husbands, who wake up at 5am to go to work, and who come home at 6pm from work...receive this rest as well.  

If you neglect other meaningful ways to encounter and study God's Word, you have made an idol out of Bible study.  There were times that I was so upset for not getting in the Word that I neglected my wife singing a hymn while making breakfast for the kids.  There were times that I neglected to really listen to Emma saying her memory verses.  And there were times that I did not cherish Sunday's sermon, because I idolized my own Bible study.  

I agree with David Clarkson, and many other "dead theologians" who strongly believed that our communal time in the Word is more valuable than our individual time in the same.  Here is the link to his famous work, Public Worship to Be Preferred Before Private.  

If you neglect loving others, or find yourself getting upset at others because they interrupt your Bible study, you have made an idol out of it.  I used to get frustrated (and still do sometimes) when my wife or kids would call, just to tell me hello, while I was in study.  If I were studying for the right reasons, I would cherish the call.

If you are offended at this post, you may have made an idol out of Bible study.  

If you tend to tune out others who may not know the Bible as well as you do, then you have made an idol out of your own Bible study.  People know when you are not listening.  This is something that I must pay attention to.  I study the Bible a lot.  It's in my job description.  So when a lay person comes to me with excitement or joy from something he/she just learned from the Scriptures, I should pay attention for the sake of learning as well, and not immediately think he/she has nothing "new" to say (that I didn't already know).  

And finally, if you find yourself not telling others about the Christ of the Bible (you study so much), then you may very well have made an idol out of the Bible and not the Christ.  Your trinity is Father, Son, and Holy Bible.  We must remember, the Scriptures lead us to Christ.  Our relationship to the Scriptures does not save us though - only Christ saves us.  I love the quote from the book noted above, "Our sin is so great that only Christ's work on the cross can rescue us."  Our work in the Bible will not save us Christian.  Only Christ's work will do.  This should free you to love your Bible rightly - even, redemptively.

Do I love studying my Bible?  Yes.  Should you?  Yes.  But never more than the Christ of the Bible.  And if you don't think this is possible - you may be guilty of it now.  Our sinful flesh is crafty.  It knows us well.  It will therefore take very good things that we love, and make ultimate things out of them.  Bible study is a prime target for this.  

Am I saying don't study your Bible?  Am I saying that its okay not to?  I would never downplay the importance of reading and studying the Word of God.  But I would write a post like this to help us all study it redemptively - that is, in a way that helps us love Christ more, and not ourselves.