“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge….” (Hosea 4:6)

Whenever I’m invited to speak somewhere, I can discern the biblical IQ of the group I’m addressing in the first few minutes of my message. I observe the way they track, the way they listen, what interests them, and what doesn’t interest them. I note how they will come alive when an illustration is rolled out. But as soon as I get back to the biblical text, they go into a daze, as if to say, Wake me when the next illustration or joke is coming.  This is because they have never learned to love the Bible. They have never developed a hunger for it. We love worship at our church—and no one walking in the door way on a Sunday morning could believe otherwise. We love having various artists coming in and sharing their music with us. But the main event is the teaching and the preaching of the Word of God.

Yet tragically, so many people in the church today are biblically illiterate. They don’t have a biblical worldview. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to a church as a guest speaker and said, “Turn in your Bibles to…” and no one has a Bible! When I will refer to certain biblical passages or a biblical story, they will look at me with blank expressions. That is not a good sign.  I believe the cry of Hosea 4:6 rings true for many in the church today: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”  It doesn’t have to be that way. No matter what the level of Bible teaching might be in your church, you can study the Word of God for yourself. Find a Bible translation that you can understand, plug into a daily Bible reading program, ask the Holy Spirit to open your understanding…and launch into the greatest of all journeys!