http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=11&article=1130
Take Time with the Text
In today’s fast-paced, get-it-and-go, instant
-messaging
world of communications, Christians must resist the temptation to treat
the Bible like our latest text message. We hurriedly read incoming
messages, abbreviate responses, reply without proofing, and forward
without considering possible consequences (cf. James 1:19). We rush
through conversations and speed-read everything from school assignments
to the Sunday paper. Sadly, the Bible often gets the same treatment.
Unlike many mundane things that we carelessly read in this
technologically advanced age, the Bible must be read thoroughly,
persistently, and methodically. Since “
[a]ll Scripture is given by inspiration
of God”
(2 Timothy 3:16, emp. added) we cannot settle for a Cliffs Notes®
version. Since there were many writers from different places, writing to
different people in different languages, and since there is a major
difference between the Old Testament and New Testament (cf. Colossians
2:14; Hebrews 8:7-13), we must “[b]e diligent,…rightly dividing the word
of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). The context must be considered. Figures of
speech must be taken into account. The application of a 3,500-year-old
Book must be made carefully.
Divine, biblical truths are not to be taken lightly. They are to be
considered in light of life and death, heaven and hell. We cannot simply
skim the surface of Scripture, only occasionally contemplating on truth
and error, good and evil. Blessings come to the person “who
looks into the perfect law of liberty
and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work” (James 1:25, emp. added; cf. Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:18-20).
We are not only to read God’s Word; we are to
meditate on it.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor
stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but
his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings
forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and
whatever he does shall prosper (Psalm 1:1-3, emp. added).
We are to think on it, endeavor to understand it, and take pleasure in
reflecting on it (Barnes, 1997; cf. Psalm 119). “To meditate in God’s
word is to discourse with ourselves concerning the great things
contained in it, with a close application of mind” (Henry, 1997). Just
as eating and digesting are two different functions, so are reading and
meditating. As Jamieson, et al. noted: “Meditation upon, is to reading
the Word what digesting is to eating. Without the slow and lengthened
process of digestion, food would not nourish the body: without
meditation, the Word read will not nourish the soul” (1997).
In short, Christianity is not a drive-through religion. Effective,
soul-nurturing Bible study is not the equivalent of glancing at your
favorite Bible verse on your iPhone once a week. Judgment Day is not
prepared for by attending a Bible class once a month. Like those noble
Bereans who “received the word with all readiness, and searched the
Scriptures
daily” (Acts 17:11, emp. added), Christians
must continue to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). “My hands also I will lift up to Your
commandments, which
I love, and I will
meditate on Your statutes” (Psalm 119:48, emp. added).
REFERENCES
Barnes, Albert (1997),
Notes on the Old and New Testaments (Electronic Database: Biblesoft).
Henry, Matthew (1997),
Commentary on the Whole Bible (Electronic Database: Biblesoft).
Jamieson, Robert, et al. (1997),
Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Bible Commentary (Electronic Database: Biblesoft).
