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How to get people to read their Bibles every day -- What does work.

If we can’t use law to bully people into being disciplined whether they feel like it or not, and we can’t rely on programs for long-term change, how can we create people who are disciplined in their daily lives?

First, we need to put people in touch with their deepest desires. God’s Word teaches that Christians are no longer slaves to sin because God has changed their “want-to.” Philippians 2:13, for example, states that “God is at work within you, helping you want to obey him, and then helping you do what he wants” (The Living Bible). Eugene Peterson paraphrases verses 12-13 as follows: “Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, and energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.”

We need to regularly get people in touch with these God-given desires. Almost every week we should ask questions such as…

• If you could change one thing about your prayer life, what would it be?
• What personal characteristics do you most long to develop in your life?
• What is your greatest longing or desire with regard to the Bible?
• What would you like your relationship with your spouse to be like?

We also need to talk freely and honestly about our own desire to live the disciple’s life. We need to say things such as…

• I want to know Jesus so well that I can really feel what life was like for him.
• I have such a hunger to understand, memorize, and apply these verses to my life.
• I want to grasp these truths so deeply that my life is totally changed.
• Playing with and imparting my values to my kids is more important than just about anything else.

In the long run, your example will do more to motivate people to develop discipline in their daily lives than anything else. We need to be able to say, as Paul did, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). We need to tell stories of our own struggles and successes with personal discipline. We should also invite others to share their successes and struggles to develop a heart of discipline. One of the most motivating influences in life is the positive example of a friend. When people hear that someone else has succeeded at something, they begin to believe that they can as well. So teachers ought to regularly invite class members to share how the truth is working in their lives. Let the more mature be an example to those just starting down the path of discipleship.

Most of all, we need to cultivate an atmosphere of acceptance and grace. We must admit and accept that failure is part of the process. We need to represent God to each other by treating others as he does, with grace and truth. If we don’t cultivate this atmosphere, people will not feel free to recognize and deal with lesser desires that are getting in the way of their souls’ deepest desires. When, on the other hand, we treat people with acceptance and grace, we create for them a safe place where they can grow as disciples of Jesus.

This does not mean, of course, that we should not hold people accountable. Grace is not softness. It is not doing what you want to do and thinking that you are a disciple. We are out to produce disciples in the best sense of the word.

Creating disciples involves accountability. But please understand: Accountability is not law. Accountability is not pressuring people into doing what they don’t want to do. Accountability is helping people keep their commitments. The key word is their.

Holding people accountable for what I think they should do is law. Helping them do what they decide to do is accountability. If someone agrees to hold me accountable, I decide what I want them to hold me accountable for and how I want to be held accountable.

How does this work out in a small group or class? Suppose our lesson is on reading God’s Word. If I challenged the group to read a certain portion of Scripture every day, they might all get on board and even walk out of class thinking, “I’m going to do that.” However, people being the way they are, it is unlikely that they will follow through on their “commitment.” We all need accountability.

Rather, we should ask people, “How would you like to apply this lesson to your life, and how can we serve you by holding you accountable to your commitment?” Some may decide not to commit to anything at all, and we should accept and respect their decision. Others may make personal commitments but decline any sort of accountability. When that happens, we should let them try (even if we believe that they will fail). Accountability works only when people see and feel their need for it. Forcing commitments on people is little more than pharisaism.

Some will commit to read their Bible every day and ask us to hold them accountable for it. In those cases, we must make sure that we keep people accountable to do what they said they would do. I have seen accountability groups totally fail because they rewarded unkept commitments: “Did you read your Bible this week?” “No.” “Well, don’t feel bad—neither did I.” We are to spur one another on to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24), but this kind of accountability only produces more and more failure. If people ask you to hold them accountable, do it. Periodically ask them how they are doing with their commitments. Help them develop the daily disciplines that characterize a disciple of Jesus.

You may want to provide general accountability times during the meeting and encourage private accountability on more personal issues. Too much open accountability will kill a group’s outreach potential. You need to maintain a delicate balance. One way to strike this balance is by limiting in-class accountability to short-term, lesson-related issues and by initiating other opportunities for private accountability. For example, you might routinely encourage class members to check up on each other before or after class. You might also help people form same-sex pairs or trios in which they can talk regularly and frankly about their marriages, their relationship with God, parenting issues, and the like.

In all likelihood, you will be unable to hold everyone in your class or small group accountable for all that they commit to do. Simply remembering their commitments is a challenge in itself. But God has provided an answer to this dilemma. It is hidden in the two dozen or so of the New Testament’s “one another” passages. According to the Bible, ministry does not come from the top-down; it extends from “one to another.”

Ultimately, our ministry to the class should create ministry within the class. Our goal is to help class members minister to each other. This is what the body of Christ is all about: Christians helping each other develop discipline in their daily lives, people encouraging each other to become committed disciples of Christ. God designed the church to be a level organization where, as Francis Schaeffer said, there are “no little people,” where people help each other develop the daily disciplines that characterize a disciple of Jesus.

These relationships form an integral part of becoming and being a disciple. “One another” relationships are the heart and soul of the New Testament church. In fact, they are so crucial that we will deal with them in some detail in the next discussion.