Yesterday, Julie and I took the kids to my grandparents to pick up some blueberry plants that we’re going to plant in our yard. Grandma treated us to an outstanding pot roast with homemade biscuits. You’ve got to love Grandma’s cooking. Even more so, I loved watching Merritt hang around her in the kitchen and seeing Colton toss a football in the living room with my grandpa.

During lunch, grandpa was telling me about a Bible study he’s been doing. I think he said it’s going to be a sermon he’s preaching soon. To sit there and listen as he walked through what he was learning in his study time was incredible.

My grandpa is 84 years old. He taught me how to stand on my head, how to fish, and was the person that gave me the momentum when I rode a bike for the first time. He’s one of the strongest men I know and has a sense of humor too. He still gives me a hard time about that one time I jack knifed his truck with the boat attached. This is after I told him I’ve become pretty good at backing a trailer up.

But yesterday, he showed me that even at 84, he realizes more and more how much he needs God’s Word. To see the beam in his eye as we talked about his study was humbling and convicting. My grandparents have been reading the Bible through each year together since 1995 and they don’t plan on stopping. They know and have lived by this truth: that in order to be committed it God, you have to be committed to God’s Word. They have found that God’s Word is “sweeter than honey to my mouth” (Psalms 119:103). They understand what Paul is telling Timothy that God’s Word is profitable!

God’s Word is a necessity in our lives. Through it, we learn about God’s grace and his glory. We learn how to follow him and to point people to him. We learn from God’s own words that Jesus is all we need. The disciples and early church believed that and said, “we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4).

Many of us are missing this. We don’t value our time in the Scriptures. We neglect it. We no longer delight in God’s Word and we struggle to stay devoted to it. I’ve never known a person to be a strong, God-fearing Christian that did not spend intentional time in God’s Word.

1 Peter 2:2-3 tells us “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

We need to pray that God will give you a taste, desire, and passion for His Word. We need to see the beauty of the words that God gave to us so we can see our need for Christ. We need to be intentional in our reading. Choose a time and place to begin reading God’s Word. And if you’re not sure where to start reading, don’t be afraid to ask someone.

I’ll be planting Grandma’s blueberry plants today. They won’t grow if they aren’t in soil and being watered. And just like those blue berry plants, we won’t grow if we are not rooted in God’s Word. Psalm 1 says blessed is the man who delights and meditates on God’s Word.

I hope that when I’m 84, my grandkids will see the passion I have for God’s Word and I pray that I will never stop seeing how much I need it every day. A trip to grab some blue berry plants became a reminder for me to be planted in God’s Word.

May all who follow Christ find delight in God’s Word and as we read the pages of Scripture, may our eyes be opened to the splendor and beauty of our Savior.