"The Bible....There it is: Old and New Testaments, God’s unchanging Word—bound by black leather, edged in gold, [and] covered with a layer of fine dust."

That is pretty much the way theologian Joseph Lienhard began a lecture at Boston College a few years ago. It was a great way to start. It certainly captures the reality of the Bible’s place in our lives today.

On the one hand, it is prominent. All Christians—Protestant and Catholic, but particularly Protestant—view it as a vital dimension of discipleship. In fact, it has been said that the most significant achievement of the Protestant Reformation was making the Bible available to the people. That is why Protestant Christians became known as "People of the Book."

Yet, more than 500 years after Gutenberg published the first Bible, there are millions in print, many read so rarely that they are covered with a layer of dust.

A year or so ago, George Barna asked more than 6,000 Christians how often they read the Bible outside of worship. What he found was that Christians in the mainline traditions—Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians and the like—were not avid "People of the Book." Only 39 percent said they had read from the Bible other than at church in the last seven days. In other words, six out of 10 Christians have not read the Scriptures this week.

If there are any doubts about Barna’s findings, a survey of active Presbyterians confirmed them. That survey found that 12 percent of Presbyterians had not read the Bible at all in the year prior to the study. Another 45 percent said they had read it in that year, but only "rarely" or "at times" or "once a month or less." Nearly six out of 10 reported that Holy Scripture remains largely unread.

I am sure there are reasons for these numbers—maybe it is uncertainty as to how to begin or difficulty in understanding what the authors are trying to say. Of course, it could be a touch of laziness or even the assumption that we know all that the Bible has to tell us. Whatever the cause, these numbers suggest that a renewed commitment to the Scripture is imperative for discipleship.

But why should we invest such time and energy in reading the Bible? The second letter to Timothy suggests two reasons. The first reason is the nature of Scripture itself.

"All Scripture," Paul says, "is inspired by God." More accurately, he says, "Every Scripture is breathed into by God."

One would hardly imagine that such a statement would be controversial, but it has launched a thousand debates and 10 times that many sermons. What does the author mean by "all"? "What "Scripture" did he have in mind? What is meant by "inspired?" Did the authors know they were writing "inspired" Scripture? On and on the scholars and theologians go. And they are interesting questions to ask. But they miss the point. They are as irrelevant as "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" because both Paul and Timothy had long accepted by faith that the Scriptures were breathed of God. For hundreds of years they and their ancestors had been hearing the story of what God had done in creation, how humanity had sinned, how God had sought to restore them first through Noah, then Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then through the people of Israel, guided by their judges, kings and prophets. That God had spoken and breathed his message into that which had been written, collected, read and taught among the people of Israel, that which we call the Old Testament, was a given. It was self-evident in the fact that the people of God had been formed, inspired, challenged, sustained, corrected by it. The fact that it possessed such power was proof it was God breathed.

Certainly we can understand that. Theologian Thomas Oden has pointed out that the Christian community trusts the Scriptures—both Old and New Testament—more than we do theologian’s theories on how Scriptures are inspired. We don’t have to answer the question of how God inspires the Scriptures because we have seen God’s inspiration, God’s power, manifest through them.

Consider again the great Catholic saint Augustine. His life was a mess, filled with every imaginable indiscretion. For years he sought solace in various religious groups, but never found one that could meet his intellectual demands or curb his moral excesses. He even rejected Christianity, saying its Scriptures were too inelegant and barbaric. But then Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, began to instruct Augustine in the Scripture. He showed him how life and meaning came from the text. And soon Augustine was baptized and his life changed. He would go on to shape the church more than any other individuals save Jesus and the Apostle Paul. The God-breathed Scriptures did it.

The same is true for others.

• Saint Francis heard the Scriptures read in worship and left everything to follow Jesus and care for the poor.
• Martin Luther found in his reading of Romans the key to grace, namely the importance of faith, and ended up launching the Protestant Reformation.
• John and Charles Wesley became part of "Bible clubs" at Oxford University. The habits of Bible reading and study never left them, and they gave birth to a spiritual revival and a moral reformation.
• Alexander Campbell began to search the Scriptures for God’s intention for the church. He found it and lead us to it.

None of these folks are literalists or fundamentalists. They are not Bible thumpers or any of the stereotypes we often imagine. They simply recognized the nature of the Scriptures—that they are inspired by God.

The second reason Paul gives us for turning to the Scriptures, for reading the Bible, focuses on their purpose. Writes Paul, "All Scripture…is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work." Another translation says it this way. "…so that all who belong to God may be complete and completely equipped for every good work."

God has given us the Scriptures so that they can guide us to become the people God intends us to be.

There is a certain irony to this reality. Each week the New York Times publishes a best-sellers list consisting of nothing but books on advice and self-help. On it we find The Perricone Prescription, Self Matters, Who Moved My Cheese?, Body for Life, and so on. They are there because millions of people are anxious to read the latest books on how they can become physically or emotionally or spiritually complete. They are anxious to find out how to become what they just know they are intended to be. Soon these titles will disappear and a whole new set will emerge. All the while their Bible is likely to be gathering dust.

What Paul tells us is that Holy Scripture holds the key to our completeness, to fulfilling our purpose. We are to know God, love God and serve God. We are to share that love of God with others. That is why we exist. Scripture helps us to do that.

• It teaches us. John Stott has noted that no matter what we do, how smart or clever we are, we cannot know God unless God reveals himself to us. From creation we might surmise that a god exists. We might develop a theory of a supreme being. But our knowledge of God comes only from God’s revelation of himself, and that revelation is recorded in Scripture. The Scriptures teach us who God is, what God has done, and what we are to be.
• Scripture also reproofs and corrects us. A Christian from China once commented: "Every time I read [the Bible] it kicks me." There is a certain truth to that. Who can read the Sermon on the Mount--where anger at our brothers and sisters is condemned and lustful feelings challenged, where we are told to turn the other cheek and love our enemies—and not feel as if we have been kicked? Most of us know we have not lived up to those expectations. But at the same time, the Scriptures correct us. They show us where we fail so we can change, come closer to God and to being what God wants us to be.
• And Scripture trains us in righteousness. Elsewhere in Scripture Paul compares the Christian life to a race. No one runs a race without training. The Bible provides us with the tools to train for the race. It guides us ethically and morally so that we might live the righteous life, the life that represents God and prepares us to serve as ambassadors of Jesus Christ.

Through the Scriptures, we are prepared for the work God has for us. We are made complete in a way that no New York Times Best Seller ever can.

Last week, as you may recall, I suggested that obedience was an essential dimension of discipleship. At the door, someone asked about how we can know we are obeying God. It is a great question. And at least part of the answer is this--The God-breathed Scriptures. When we read this book, we learn what God intends of us. We have our lives critiqued and corrected. We are trained for ministry. The Christian life is laid out for us to see and follow.

So let me challenge you this week to pull the Bible off the shelf, blow off the dust, and open it with a mind and heart seeking God. And read it. Pick a Gospel--let’s say Mark--and read a chapter a day. Or read a Psalm in the morning before work and let it guide you through the day. Read it and let God breath life into you through it. Amen.