|
Featured Sections Headlines Opinion Obituaries Sports Crime Blotter Happenings Country Cooking Wandering Minds Classifieds Birthdays Off The Wall On The Record Church Listings Archives Featured Columns Pastor Howle Wise Tech Tips Editor's Column Carl Langley Dr. Skip Myers Edgefield Square Registered Sex Offenders for Edgefield County Contact us Contact Info or E-mail the Editor Phone: 803-634-0964 day 803-279-5041 eve 803-279-8943 fax Mail to EdgefieldDaily.com PO Box 972 Edgefield SC 29824 Video & Audio Updates Audio Archive Video Archive School System EC District Office School Board Strom Thurmond Charter Schools Fox Creek Private Schools Wardlaw Academy Public Offices Edgefield County Edgefield Johnston Trenton Political State and Federal Legislative Contacts Local Political Parties Republican Party Democrat Party Chamber of Commerce Edgefield County Chamber Historical Edgefield Genealogical Society News links The Citizen News Aiken Standard North Augusta Star The State Augusta Chronicle Atlanta Journal United Press Associated Press FOX News Reuters CNS News WorldNet Daily Newsmax Drudge Report GoogleNews Yahoo!News New York Times New York Post Los Angeles Times Washington Times Washington Post |
 Religion
You Must Learn To Read By Pastor Phillip Howle web posted January 13, 2010 RELIGION – "It is impossible to enslave mentally or socially a Bible-reading people. The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom." Horace Greeley. “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” St. Jerome, Roman Catholic church father. Now I know me writing to you about learning to read seems a bit silly, after all you are reading this. How many of you can relate to this: you close your Bible after reading for a while in frustration, wondering what you just read and what it actually means to your life and it really bothers you that you don't get more out of your study of Scripture? I can. Why is this? There are a few reasons. One, TV has killed reading. TV requires no brain interaction and makes us dumber every day. Two, the internet has killed reading. Everything is short and terse. There is not time or space for plot, emotion, and subtlety. Third, there is a get it done mentality. I fall victim to this. I push to read through the Bible every year. While this is great, on some days I read fast because I am tired or I have somewhere to be. There may be other reasons as well. Maybe you are not naturally a good reader or you are ADHD and have a hard time focusing on one thing. So how can we learn to read the Bible better? There are a few different methods you can employ. Imagine you are a detective looking for the meaning and message of a passage of Scripture. Now any detective will tell you, there is more than one way to crack a case. Take Sherlock Holmes, the master sleuth, he can sometimes be found on his hands and knees, inspecting the floor for clothing fiber or footprints. Other times he thinks for hours, rolling things over and over in his mind, straining for answers. He wears disguises, fakes sickness, conducts experiments—whatever it takes to solve the mystery. In the same way, finding clues in the biblical text demands more than one approach. First, and this is one of my favorites, read the Bible as a love letter. Have you ever fallen in love? I hope so. When my wife Rebecca attending Costal Carolina University she would write me love letters while I was attending North Greenville University. I loved them and would read and reread every word. So guess what I did when one of her letters would arrive? Did I mumble, "Oh, no, another letter from Rebecca (sigh). I guess I better read it?” Did I sit down, read the first paragraph, and then say, "Well, that's enough for today. I can check that item off my list"? No way! I used to read every single letter four or five times. At night I'd read them before I went to bed. I'd tuck them in Bible because I did not want to lose them. Why? Because I was in love with the person who wrote them. That's the way we should approach the Word of God. Read it as though it were His love letter to you. Because that is what it is! Every part and every word you should be able to see His love and grand purpose for your life and this world! Second, read the Bible thoughtfully: Thoughtful reading involves study. Not boredom. When you come to the Bible, put your thinking cap on. Don't just throw your mind into neutral. Apply the same mental discipline that you would to any subject in which you take a vital interest. Are you an investor? Then use the same mental intensity to study Scripture that you would The Wall Street Journal or a stock prospectus. Do you fly an airplane? Then pay as much attention to the Word as you would to a flight plan or weather advisory. Maybe you are a nurse? Then look for the "vital signs" in the passage you are reading that day just as you would with any patient on your floor. Here is a major truth: The Bible does not yield its fruit to the lazy. Proverbs 2:4-6 states this truth: “if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure, (5) then you will understand the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God. (6) For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” Our passage likens biblical wisdom to precious metals, found not lying around on the surface but at a deeper level. Think about it like this, there have always been rich oil deposits under the parched deserts of the Middle East. But, for thousand of years people wandered across those waterless tracts of land, unaware that only a few thousand feet away laid a vast resource of oil and wealth. So it is with Scripture. The very truth of God is there, able to transform your life. But you must probe for it. You've got to penetrate the surface with more than just a cursory glance. In other words, you've got to think deeply as you read God’s love letter written to you! Give these two principles a shot today and next week we’ll look at two more! If you can’t wait and would like more information now shoot me an email at philliphowle@hotmail.com or come by and visit me at Antioch Baptist Church Sunday mornings at 11:00am. I’ll have you out by 12:00! Going to reread an old love letter from my wife now! Pastor Phillip © Copyright 2010
EdgefieldDaily.com All
original material is property of
EdgefieldDaily.com and cannot be reproduced, rewritten or redistributed
without the expressed written permission of Edgefield Daily.com
|
NOTICE:
We still need recipes for Cooking Section WEBNEWS – Send in your favorite or favorites. There is no limit to the number of recipes you can send in. With the Editor’s wife being the driving force behind her own personal section, help her create an exchange of local favorites, home cooking, grilling, sauces, and deserts! Send in your submissions here. |
