When Does Bible Neglect Become Sinful?

We open 2019 working through some important questions about Bible reading, all emailed in to us from you. Thanks for your continued engagement. Today’s question comes to us from a listener in Germany named Michael.

“Dear Pastor John, when does a lack of Bible reading become sin? I fear this trend in my own friends. In our Western society, we have easy access to the Bible, but I feel like many Christians spend little, or even almost no time, in the word. A ‘Christian’ that reads a lot and doesn’t act upon it is not better either. Nevertheless, when would you start correcting a fellow believer for not spending enough time in the word?”

Let’s take Michael’s first question as the main one: “When does a lack of Bible reading become sin?” My hope is that in giving a kind of triage of diminishing Bible reading, Michael might be able to discern when to step into his friend’s life and exhort him. Here are my five symptoms of sinful diminishing of Bible reading. It’s my attempt at answering, When does diminishing Bible reading become a sin? How might we discern when our slacking off in Bible reading and meditation is becoming sinful? Read More