Depending on your connection, staying in touch with people on the Internet either requires you to deliberately check your mailbox on regular intervals or to set up your system so that it notifies you verbally or visually that there’s a message in your in-box. When the icon appears or the alarm beeps, it’s hard not to look. We always want to check for mail from close friends or family.

What would it take for you to get the message that God wants to talk to you? How often do you sense God saying, “You’ve got mail!” The purpose of this brief article is to challenge you to examine your attitude about the Bible.

If you read the Bible regularly, you will discover three truths: the Bible claims to be God’s Word; it seems to be God’s Word, and it proves to be God’s Word. (These specific points will be expanded and explained in other articles on this website.) These truths are pretty good reasons why you should read the Bible. But they won’t have any effect in your life as long as your Bible is closed. The best e-mail note you’ve ever received will have little impact if you never open it. Good news in your in-box won’t affect you unless you read it.

So the question becomes: How can we adjust our attitude toward the Bible in order to make it possible for us to discover if the Bible lives up to its claims? Before we can answer that question, we need to be honest about two crucial issues: (1) whether we believe that God wants to communicate with us, and (2) whether or not we want God to communicate with us. Do we really want to hear what God says?

When we read a verse like, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right” (2 Timothy 3:16), we know that God’s messages to us will not always be comfortable. But even that is ultimately a sign of God’s love and desire to communicate with us. He loves us enough to tell us the truth, point out what’s wrong, and correct us. That’s what real love does.

Put your Bible somewhere in plain sight in your room. Decide on an experiment in communication with God. Every time you notice that Bible, train yourself to think of it as a personal letter from God to you, rather than a big irrelevant book.  You will be surprised how quickly God shows you that he really does want to speak to you through those pages.