Some years ago Churchman Magazine published an  article called “The Diary of A Bible”.   While being humorous it is also very convicting. If our bibles kept a diary of our relationship with them, how would it read?

January 15th:	“I’ve been resting quietly for a week. The first few nights after the first of the year my owner read me regularly; but now, he has forgotten me, I guess.”
February 2nd:	“Cleaned up. I was dusted today, along with other things, and put back in my place.”
February 22nd:	" My owner used to me for a short time after dinner.  looked up a few references.  Going to Sunday school  ‘tomorrow.’"
March 7th:	" Cleaned up.  Dusted,  and in my old place again.  I have been down in the lower hall since my trip to Sunday School."
April 2nd:	"Busy day. My owner led a Christian Endeavor meeting and had to look up references. He had an awful time finding me, although I was right there in my place all the time."
May 5th:	" In Grandma’s lap.  She is here on a visit.  Today she left a teardrop on Colossians 2 : 5-7.”
May 6th:	"In Grandma’s lap again this afternoon. She spent most of her time on 1 Corinthians 13, and the last four versus of the 15th chapter ."
May 7, 8 and 9th:	"In Grandma’s lap every afternoon now. It’s a comforting spot. Sometimes she reads me, sometimes she talks to me."
May 10th:	"Grandma’s gone. Back in my old place again. She kissed me goodbye."
June 4th:	"Had a couple of four-leaf clover stuck in me today."
July 1st:	"Packed any trunk with clothes and other things. Off on a vacation, I guess. "
July 7th:	"Still in the old trunk."
July 10th:	"Still in the old trunk, although nearly everything else has been taken out."
July15th:	"Home again  and in my old place .  Quite a journey,  although I do not see why I went,  I was never taken out of the trunk."
August 1st:	"Rather stuffy and hot. Have two magazines, a novel and an old hat on top of me. Wish they would take them off."
September 10th:	"Cleaned up. Dusted  and set right again."
September 22nd:	"Used by Mary a few minutes today. She was writing a letter to a friend whose brother had died and wanted an appropriate verse.”
October 1st:	“Back in my old place again. Not even dusted this week. I seem to be used only for emergencies. Wonder why they bother with me at all?"

According to Barna Groups State of the Bible 2014 report, 88% of Americans claim to own a bible. This percentage of bible ownership has not changed since 2011. The number of bibles in American homes has decreased from a median average of 4.4 to 3.4 bibles from 2013 to 2014. 

We still love our bibles, yet our bibles continue to be one of the most neglected books on our shelves.  In America, one fourth of adults, 26% say they never read the bible.  One in 10, 9% say they read their bible once a year and 11% say they read their bible once or twice a year. This 46% segment represents non-bible readers in America. The remaining 53% who would classify themselves as bible readers admit to reading the bible at least 3-4 times a year. 8%  say they read it once a month while another 8% say they do actually fall in the lowest bible reader category by only opening their bible to read it 3-4times a year.  9% of Americans read their bible once a week. 13% read their bibles several times a week and only 15% read their bibles daily.

Even with our multiple bibles, our electronic bibles and bible apps, our audio bibles, we still have difficulty actually finding time  to read the bible on a regular basis.  It is as Doug Birdsall, president of American Bible Society, once said: "I see the problem as analogous to obesity in America. We have an awful lot of people who realize they’re overweight, but they don’t follow a diet. People realize the Bible has values that would help us in our spiritual health, but they just don’t read it."

What makes it so difficult for you to read the bible on a regular basis? For me, it’s time. It’s the same battle we all fight. I do read the bible on a regular basis.  I wish I could say that I read from it everyday but I do miss a day or two here and there and then I find myself reading double time to catch back up to my reading schedule. I supplement my daily bible reading with Christian devotionals, books, sermons, blogs and podcasts that I like to listen to throughout the day and they encourage me and keep me fed like, pre-prepared packaged meals, fast food and snacking do. However, nothing takes the place of sitting down with the Word of God itself. It is like sitting down to a home cooked meal.  I can go a day or two without a home cooked meal but after that I start to feel a bit antsy and I begin craving something substantial. It is the same way with reading the bible. I may miss a day or two here and there but I start to get antsy craving that substantial spiritual food that truly satisfies me and gives me the spiritual nutrients my spirit craves.  I start to get spiritually tired and lethargic. My levels of joy and peace start to run on empty. My temperament starts to run short as they do when I don’t eat physical food. Not eating physically plays on my emotions and not eating spiritually plays on my emotions as well.   Not having an appetite for God’s word is a sign that something is wrong in our spirit, just as not having an appetite for food would be a sign that something is physically wrong with our bodies. 

We live in a day when everyone is concerned with eating healthier and avoiding foods that have negative or empty value to our bodies. How much more so should be concerned with what we are feeding our spirit? How much more so should we be ensuring that the food we eat is the organic, pure word of God?

Where is your bible sitting right now? Is it on top of everything or has it become buried and made its way to the bottom beneath  other priorities and distractions?  How long has it been since you picked it up? Do you miss it?