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 Religion
Reading the Bible without meditating on it is like trying to eat without swallowing By Pastor Phillip Howle web posted January 20, 2010 RELIGION – Here is your next step in learning to read your Bible. You must be patient! Wow, I know you are glad to hear that. We love patience don’t we? We like instant messaging, instant coffee, quick grits, live updates, and next day shipping! So it should be no surprise that if we decide to open our Bibles, we expect to see results instantly and effortlessly. So then, if we don't hit the jackpot in short order, we're frustrated very quickly and close the Bible. But now we come to Scripture and you must be patient. We have all heard the old saying “nothing good happens fast.” Now that is not always true. Take Krystal for example, their quick and the burgers are amazing! Sorry, getting off track and quite hungry. So it may not always be true, but it does pertain to Bible study. You see the fruit of the Word takes time to ripen. So if you are the least bit impatient, you're liable to bail out early and miss a rich harvest. So many people do this. They get disillusioned with the process. People tell me, "Look, I tried to read the Bible, but it's like plowing through concrete." Other people give up on the Bible and turn instead to secondary sources. They read Christian books about the Bible and talk to other people about the Bible, but don’t do the hard work to understand it on their own. It is your amazing privilege to know God through His Word! I love teaching the Bible and it thrills me to see people learning and growing closer to God through my fumbling preaching. But there is nothing that makes me happier, and more importantly God happier, than when someone comes to me and shares what they have learned on their own through Scripture. Now how can you patiently read the Bible? Here are a few suggestions. Read you Bible passage of the day repeatedly. I will never forget being in preaching class and being challenged to slowly and carefully read the passage I was studying a 100 times. Fifty of those times out loud. Wow! Are you kidding me? Back then I would read it a handful of times and start trying to create a sermon. But here was this professor telling me that I needed to read it over and over again—not once or twice but a hundred times, because this was necessary to gain the insight contained within. The amazing thing about the Word of God is that it has longevity. It can stand up to repeated exposure. In fact, that's why it is unlike any other book. Most books people read once, maybe twice if it is really good. But you then put it on the shelf and move on to something else. That's never true of the Bible. Read it over and over again, and you'll still see things that you've never seen before! So be willing to give this a try: Study one book for a month. Let’s take the book of Philippians. I will do it with you. In 4 weeks you can read the book through several times. It is not far fetched to read the book 30 times in this period. This will allow you to observe its structure, identify the key terms, investigate the central characters, maybe even do some background work with secondary sources, and decide on some practical ways to apply the truths of the book to your life. My point is that in a month's time, you can begin to take ownership of a book of the Bible. One book may not seem like much, but it may be one more than you currently understand. You got to learn to crawl before you run. Think of it like this: in a year's time, you can have twelve books under your belt. That is almost half the New Testament! One more note: be patient with yourself. Don’t get discouraged. Many people come to church and hear their preacher, their Sunday School teacher or people who gain much insight from their Bibles and then think “I just don’t get it like they do!” But don’t forget that the other person has been a student of the Bible for years. There's no way you can start out understanding the Bible at that level. Loving God and studying scripture is a marathon and not a sprint. The race is long, it is not always easy, but the reward is eternal. Remember Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and run with endurance the race that lies before us, (2) keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of God's throne. So start to get into God’s Word today. Read some from the book of Philippians today and then every day for the next month. You can click here right now to get started. I’ll help you a little along. I will also teach you one more important lesson next week, and that is how to read the Bible prayerfully. So relax and enjoy the experience. God's truth is there for your life. Just be patient! © Copyright 2010
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