I used to read my Bible to be obedient and be a “good Christian”. I think we do a lot of things like that, don’t you? We attend church, read our Bibles, serve, etc., because we think it’s the “right” thing to do. Like maybe God is happier with us after we do the thing than He was before. Not sure where this idea of God came from, unless is came from people-pleasing, approval-seeking, trying-too-hard people who put their insecurities on God and instructed others how to live. And sadly, yes, I think that’s where this idea of God came from.

But years later, knowing the truth about who God is and His deep love for me, I read my Bible because I’ve learned it’s a megaphone from His heart to my soul. God has spoken through His Word to give me direction, once to tell me to leave my job, write my book, and be obedient when I wasn’t. Through His Word, He’s given me peace when my parents divorced, told me Markus and I would have a son when we weren’t getting pregnant, and encouraged me to extend forgiveness when I wanted to withhold it. And maybe even bigger than all of that, He’s shown me in His Word, how deeply He loves me. Like He’s stupid in love with me. And I can’t compare it to anything else.

God speaking through His Holy Writ has forever changed me. And you guys, more than anything else, I want this for my kids. But they won’t know the life-altering power of the Word of God unless they read its pages. And so, I lead them, I must lead them, to do so, and embrace teachable moments along the way.

I recently asked our 10-year-old son, “Deuce” what he read about in his Bible that morning. He said, “Jesus feeding the 5000. But mom, like you’ve told me before, there were over 20,000 people there when you count the women and children. But since ladies and kids didn’t matter much back then, they don’t tell us about them, only the guys. That bugs me mom.”

I replied, “Then THAT’S how you apply this story to your life. If you’re reading your Bible and something jumps out at you, that’s probably the Holy Spirit asking you to lean into that part of the story. And so you pray, ‘God, please help me to always value women and children. Even if no one around me is doing so.’

“Buddy, when you go to middle school next year, boys will treat girls like junk. They will talk about them sexually and lie about them. But because you’ve read this story in the Bible, and prayed that God will always help you value women, you will remember you can stand up for them.”

The Bible can change the patterns and thoughts of our lives if we read it for application, instead of just for story. We can know a lot about the Bible, but if it’s just so we can say we’re Bible smart, then we’re missing the whole point.

I told he and our youngest son, Solomon, about a time when I worked at a large church as a women’s ministry assistant. One of my jobs was to make sure all of the rooms were set up for women’s Bible study. Multiple studies went on at the same time and each Bible study leader liked her room set up differently: some had chairs around tables, others had a classroom style set up, some needed AV support, others wanted coffee, and others asked for water.

There was one group of women I still remember. This group did the “Precept” Bible study and only studied their Bibles. No commentary, no one else’s interpretation, no Lysa TerKeurst or Jennie Allen. Just them and the Bible. (I love this method of study, by the way.) Now, of all the women enrolled in the many Bible studies, they were probably the most well-versed in the Word with a ton of head knowledge. But they were the meanest group of women around. I saw them coming down the hall, and I wanted to turn around and run the other direction. They were furious if the guys who set up the room made a mistake or if they didn’t have the right amount of sugar packets or if they ran out of coffee. And man, I heard about it the next morning via email and a personal phone call.

See, they KNEW their Bible, but it only stayed in their head and never sunk deep into their heart. If it had, they would’ve given me and our set-up guys grace, forgiveness, and patience…all of the character qualities that Jesus shows in the Bible.

“But we,” I told the boys, “get to read God’s Word differently, allowing the truths of its pages to radically influence how we live our lives.”

So when “Deuce” decides, and I pray he does, to treat young women well in middle school when the others boys don’t, then he will have taken God’s Word from his head to his heart, which is why God wrote His book in the first place. Imagine how it will make God famous, if “Deuce” stands up for a young woman to his friends. He may be a lonely kid if so, but man, will he bring God so much glory.

I’ve learned I don’t have to be a Bible expert to show my kids the value of God’s Word. I only have to allow it to transform me, and cast a vision to my kids of how it can do the same for them.

Embracing teachable moments is the key to helping our kids see God’s Word, not as a fairy-tale, but as a sword that can show them how much God loves them and how He empowers them to fight for His values in this world.

May our kids love the Bible, not because we’re Bible experts, but because we are broken parents with impressionable kids, who’ve decided the only way to live is to allow God’s Word to be a megaphone to our soul.

“For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).