We’re closing out the week with another video interview in our 20th anniversary series, this time with author Ann Spangler. Ann has written and edited many books, including Praying the Names of God and The One Year Devotions for Women.

We asked Ann “why don’t we read the Bible more?”

Here’s what she shared in response:

“Lack of time” is a common answer to this question; several of our other interviewees noted this in their responses. (I’m very fond of Ann’s phrase “time-poor” to describe our lives these days.)

But Ann adds a interesting new idea: it’s not just a lack of free time that keeps us from the Bible; it’s that we have too many competing sources loudly demanding a piece of that limited time. The Bible doesn’t scream at us for attention the way TV news, advertisements, work responsibilities, and family duties do—it invites us to engage with it. But it’s hard to hear that gentle invitation when our ears and brains are tuned to respond to only the loudest and most immediate demands.

So how do we re-wire ourselves to be open and receptive to the daily invitation of God’s Word? If it were easy to do, we wouldn’t be talking about this in the first place. But there are practical things you can do to move Bible reading higher on your priority list. See yesterday’s post “Reading the Bible on a Tight Schedule” for a few simple ideas to get you moving in the right direction.