One activity that is losing interest worldwide today is the joy of reading. The culture in which we live encourages us to gravitate toward being visual. If you want to find out how to fix something, you go to youtube. If you want entertainment you watch a movie on Netflix, rent a DVD, go to the movies, or go see some entertainer or group perform. Reading is no longer considered as important in the school system, either. Reading stimulates the brain. Several sources I have recently read stated that to keep mentally alert in the senior years, reading is an important discipline to practice.
With so much in the world to read, one of the most important books for the Christian to constantly read is the Holy Bible. Many people claim to have read the Bible from cover to cover numerous times. What is really important though is not how many times you have gone through the Scriptures, but how many times the Scriptures have gone through you. In reading the Scriptures, one sage from years past stated the purpose of reading the Scriptures as follows:
“Know it in your mind; stow it in your heart; show it in your life; sow it in the world.” Now that is good sound advice on how to read the Scriptures.
Jesus encouraged others to do the same. He spoke harshly toward those who should know the Scriptures, but did not know them nor teach what the Bible taught, i.e., the Pharisees and the Sadducees. On one occasion Jesus is talking to the Sadducees and the Scriptures state: “But Jesus answered and said to them, ‘You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures, or the power of God’” (Matt. 22:29). Believers want the power of God in their lives, but they do not want to spend time reading, meditating, and living by the Scriptures. Jesus says here that to have the power of God in your life, you must know the Scriptures.
Let’s spend daily time in the Scriptures! Why not start today?
