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Don't Read Your Scriptures Every Day? You're Missing Out on These 3 Major Benefits
Why Do We Study Scriptures?
If God asked you to read a chapter of Harry Potter every day for a year, do you think you could do it?
Totally! The Harry Potter series is awesome!
Well, what if God asked you to read a chapter of the scriptures every day for a year. . . would you be able to do that?
Your answer to that question might not be quite as excited or emphatic as the previous one. For most of us the scriptures just don’t feel as fun or engaging as a good novel.
So then why are we asked to read them?
Is it a punishment from God? Is it mindless busy work to keep us too preoccupied to sin??
It turns out that reading your scriptures actually provides some of the most powerful spiritual protection you can possibly have.
In fact, if you don’t read your scriptures at least 4 times a week, you’re missing out on 3 huge benefits.
Power Over Sin
First: scripture study gives you serious power over sin.
Studies have shown that people who read the scriptures at least 4 times a week (compared to those who read 3 days a week or less) are 61% LESS likely to look at pornography, 57% less likely to get drunk, and 74% less likely to gamble! Talk about scripture power!
Missionary Power
Second: scripture study makes you a more powerful missionary.
Now, Our job on this earth is not to make it back to Heavenly Father alone. We are supposed to help all of God’s children around us learn about Him as well. And if you feel like you’re just not a natural missionary, scripture study might be the solution you’ve been looking for.
You see, people who read the scriptures at least 4 times a week are 228% more likely to share their faith with others, 231% more likely to help others who are struggling with their faith, and 407% more likely to memorize scriptures.
And all of that from simply reading 4 times a week!
Scriptures Show the Way
Last: scripture study helps you stay firmly on the covenant path.
God’s covenant path back to him is also referred to as a “straight course” laid out before us (2 Nephi 9:41). Scripture study helps us stay on that straight path by serving as a marker.
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf told the story of a scientific study that tested the ability of people to walk in a straight line without any landmarks or visible guides. The study participants were taken into a dense forest and simply asked to walk in a straight line. When they finished many of them were quite sure they had been successful. However, the reality was much different. Many of the participants had unwittingly been walking in circles!
How could this be? In the words of Elder Uchtdorf, “. . . . without reliable landmarks, we drift off course.”
Scripture study serves as a daily landmark to remind us which direction to walk in. Even though it seems small, it is an important daily activity that keeps on the straight and narrow covenant path!