Give Attention to Reading

As I left the library today with the books I had checked out, I thought about what I intended to do with them. One is a cookbook. I don’t cook much, but I like to browse through cookbooks. They are interesting, many of them are quite beautiful—and they are not fattening!

The other is a novel which was touted by reviewers, but since I didn’t actually see the book before I had it reserved for my use, I may not even read it. If I find it dull, depressing, or otherwise not worth my time, I’ll return it unread.

When I was a student, I was under some obligation to undertake assigned readings in their entirety and with considerable care. I have no such obligation now. I take many books back to the library after reading a chapter or two, or skimming the whole book and then reading the end! So many books, so little time! I have to pick and choose.

That brought me to some thoughts about how we approach reading the Scripture. Sometimes we dip into it as I will that cookbook. “Oh, something interesting here." "Oh, a nice section there.” Or we read the “good parts” as though we were picking our way through a novel: our favorite Old Testament stories, the Psalms perhaps, some of the Epistles. Not every part of the Bible is easy reading, but “all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” (II Timothy 3:16, 17)

The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” (I Timothy 4:11) It is obvious from the context that he is urging his young follower to devote himself to public and private reading of the Scripture, although that was not nearly so handy then as it is today. I think Paul was suggesting to Timothy and to us that we become students of the Word, reading as I did that earlier academic reading, “in its entirety and with considerable care.”

Give attention to your reading!

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Scripture quotation marked NLT is taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved. Scripture marked KJV is from the King James Version of the Bible.

Email: mryrtha@gmail.com