The importance of reading God's word.

So in our college group we are going to start diving into spiritual disciplines which are things like, solitude, fasting, praying, and reading God's word. Yesterday a text message brought to light to me one reason why God's word is so crucial to our faith. There are many reasons why it's so important but I want to share the one thing from yesterday. So I had a friend text me to tell her something good. So I responded "Jesus loves you:) " then her response was what triggered this thought. She responded by saying that she knows and it's not because the Bible tells her so:) Now I know that she knows that Jesus loves her and that she loves Him right back with all her heart. As I started to read that again that response wasn't sitting right with me. Just so you know I know she was being funny with her response and that she meant no wrong in it but I couldn't help what was going through my head. I thought to myself that the only reason why we know that God loves us is because the Bible tells us so. Anything we know about God, the ways He loves us, cares for us, and all those other wonderful things about God, we only know them because that's what the Bible tells us about God. I'm not saying that God doesn't give us understanding on issues but I do believe everything we know and need to know about life and God are in His word.
I want to leave with this, I believe that reading the word isn't mandatory it's only a benefit. Look at it like this; every try putting something complicated together without the directions? You can take all the pieces out of the box, lay them all out then throw the directions away and go at it. Half way through it you get stuck, frustrated, and are ready to give up. Then finally hours later you have it all together but you notice there are pieces left over and now your not sure if its going to hold up. God's word are those directions to this complicated thing we call life. Yeah we can get through it but it would have been way easier to just follow the directions which would have saved us struggle, frustration, pain, and wanting to give up. So if your tired of barely making it through life or not even sure how to get through life then pick up the instruction manual and see what God has mapped out for you.
So my prayer for us today is that we would discipline ourselves to read God's word daily. I pray for faith and strength for us to let God be God.