Try it for a month and you won't be the same......
I began reading today the longest chapter in the Bible—-Psalm 119. My favorite part of this is found in the beginning where the Psalmist asks: “How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
Two things came to my mind. One was the memory of the last USA Presidential debates. All of us that watched it on TV were clear about what we heard and we were clear on how we determined the candidates performed. But at the end of the debates, the network reporters, who were listening to the exact same debate we just heard, began to explain to us what was really said, as if the rest of us were “morons” and that only their sophisticated opinions mattered. In my opinion, we really don’t need reporters to explain to us what we can plainly see and hear.
Why, then, do we read books about people that have read the Bible and listen to their opinions rather than read the Bible for ourselves? Why do we trust others with what God has clearly said when anyone of us could easily, “pick it and read it”? On the other hand, why do we listen to those that condemn the Bible but have NOT read it? We accept the authority of agnostics, atheists or non-believers when they disparage the Bible and then find out that these experts rarely, if ever, read the Bible!
The second thing that came to my mind is the real truth about the Bible: It is God’s living Word—that should mean something not just to me, but to all mankind. If it IS God’s Word, why would I not spend time in it—daily——so that His Holy Spirit might speak mightily and appropriately to me. I have found, in the Bible, a powerful tool, ally and weapon with which to fight the enemy—the “one” that desires to discourage, confuse and hamstring me. Truly, His word is light as well as a love letter from God…….to me.
And so, without sounding to “preachy”, I wonder if you read the Word of God…..or do you allow someone else to read it for you? No adult would ask for another adult to read to him/him a novel or the newspaper, so why are so hesitant to read the very words of God Almighty or listen to the words of Jesus as He told parables???
My mornings begin with an espresso and the Bible—-seven days a week, and I know that I am a better man because of it. Try it—-you’ll like it.
Dean Barley
The Vineyard
Dean@VineyardCamp.com
336 351 2070
919 360 8493 (Mobile)
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