Bible Week – Day 1 – Bible Engagement in Canada
Daily Passage
I am now giving you the choice between life and death, between God’s blessing and God’s curse… Choose life. Love the LORD your God, obey him and be faithful to him. (Deuteronomy 30:19-20b GNB)
Teaching
As Christians, we seek, as Israel did, to choose a life of loving God. God has given us the Bible as an invaluable resource in helping us choose life every day. Many of us would agree that we want to read the Bible more, but then quickly come up with many reasons why we don’t follow through. For example, our busy lives keep us from reading the Bible, or we believe that we will not know how to interpret and apply what we read.
This trend is something that is not limited to you or your church; it is affecting Canada as a whole. Almost 2 in 3 Canadians believe that Scriptures of all religions teach essentially the same things. Only 6% of Christians read their Bibles daily. (Bible Engagement in Canada study, 2013) Statistically, we as Canadians have little interest in the Bible.
Examination
How often do you personally encounter the Bible? What role does the Bible play in corporate worship at your church? What can we do as individuals, households, and churches to make regular and better use of our Scripture?
React
As God’s people, it is essential that we hold to the Bible as our aide in loving God. Pray that churches in Canada would grow in their engagement with the Bible and then begin establishing good habits of your own.
Featured Resource
Are you interested in learning more about how Canadians engage and view the Holy Bible? Download the full study at BibleEngagementStudy.ca.
The Canadian Bible Engagement Study (CBES) is a ground breaking investigation sampling 4,500 Canadians in every province regarding their use, beliefs about, and attitudes toward the bible.
Download the CBES for free by clicking here
Follow along with the 2014 Bible Week Blog
Day 1 – Bible Engagement in Canada
Day 3 – The Bible for All People
Day 4 – God Bless our Children
Day 5 – Technology and the Bible