Study to shew thyself
approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth.
There is a relationship between reading and studying, but
there are also important and necessary differences. We should establish an
everyday habit of reading the scriptures; however, reading without study offers
an unbalanced diet…too much milk, too little meat.
Merely reading the scriptures, without study, will never
provide an understanding and a subsequent application of what the scriptures
teach. After learning what the scriptures say by reading them, one must learn
what the scriptures teach by studying them.
Study is demanding and it requires time; hence, you have to
slow your pace and then stop when a particular word or passage demands further
exploration. That is the reason why those who are on a set schedule to fulfill
some abstract quota, either of their own making or by following someone else’s
reading plan…avoid the process of slowing down, stopping and studying.
An elderly man, after being incarcerated for 40 years, was
finally paroled. As he attempted to cross a city street several cars almost ran
him down. At the time he was first imprisoned he had only seen just one car,
but now, they were everywhere. He said to himself, “The whole world has gotten
itself into one big hurry.” The same can be said of Christians who, instead of
walking through the scriptures, are running through them.
Hardly a day passes that I don’t hear of someone boasting
about their devotional reading plan and how many verses they read that day.
They pride themselves on how many times they have read through the scriptures from
cover to cover. Regrettably, what they fail to understand is that it is only
important how many times the Word of God has been through them and not how many
times they have been through the Word of God. Like the cowboy who carved
notches on the handle of his gun to impress others, in the final analysis, it
did not make him a skilled gunfighter. Routine reading will familiarize you
with the scriptures, but it requires study to transform your life.
Over the years I have known many who have read through the
scriptures more than one hundred times. One was a preacher who takes legalism
to the extreme. Another is one who can’t preach one message without injecting
personal and vehement criticism. One was even the wife of a pastor, who after
20 years of marriage came home afternoon, packed some clothes, left their home
and later filed for divorce.
Thankfully, such are not cases of many who are rapid
readers. The point I am trying to make is that doing things in a hurry is not
always the best course of action. If you gulp your food, you might end up with
indigestion. Just as in the physical realm we are to eat slowly to promote
proper digestion…the same holds true in the scope of our spiritual health.
The scriptures tell us that believers read the Word of God
daily, but you will not find one verse that gives an instruction on how many
times we are to read it through from cover to cover.