We're Not Reading the Bible
Enough
(Editorial - February 2003)
At 9:30 a.m., the Russian Bible school meets for the daily Bible readings. According to the report later in this magazine, “They are read in Russian with many comments and vigorous discussion. Quite often excellent points are raised by the brothers and sisters. It is evident that they do their readings and think about the word of God.”
They do their
readings
This agrees with other reports we hear about our brothers and sisters in
Eastern Europe. Here’s a comment from a private letter: “Now, I’ll tell
you a little about my family. I live alone with two children. My son
studies at the 7th grade, helps me at home, studies the Bible
together with us, sings the psalms, he loves the Proverbs (especially 25:21;
28:13).” We couldn’t recall those proverbs and, upon looking them up,
were struck with their contents.
A sister from Kazakhstan wrote in the Gospel News, “Sis. Izolda is so happy her husband has been baptized, she is telling everyone in the town about it, how they are reading from the Companion together each day.” One comment was particular apt when it noted our new brothers and sisters are “voracious” Bible readers.
First-century
converts
Evidently intense Bible reading was also the norm among the first Gentiles
converted to Christianity. For many years, the ecclesia at Rome was 100%
Gentile, as all Jews were banished from Rome (Acts 18:2). Yet one cannot
understand Paul’s epistle to the Romans without an intimate knowledge of the
Old Testament. In chapters 9 and 10 alone there are 37 quotations from and
direct allusions to the scriptures. Even today, Paul’s discussions can only
be understood if one knows the context and nuances of the Old Testament
sections from which he quotes. This was written for the benefit of new
converts, nearly all of whom were only a few years from pagan darkness.
In fact, as we know, the whole of the New Testament is rooted in the Old and can only be understood in light of what had gone before. To understand the epistles and gospels they were receiving, our first-century brethren must have done just like our new brethren in Eastern Europe – read the scriptures daily and discussed them at every opportunity.
A sharp contrast
At a small social affair of
Christadelphian families, an informal survey was taken. “How many times
a week do you do family Bible reading?” The confidential replies were
surprisingly candid: 0, 0, 2, 3, 4. This is a far cry from “voracious”
Bible reading, and we suspect it’s somewhat typical in long-established
ecclesial areas.
“We have so many distractions,” we say. That’s true: with television, videos, cars to get around, paperbacks and magazines, Internet news and all the rest, we have lots to do besides read the Bible. Furthermore, jobs are available, school is affordable, ecclesial activities abound so there are constant demands on our time. In these circumstances, a conscious effort and daily discipline is needed if we’re going to read the Bible as much as we should.
And read it we must. Neglect of the word of God is a certain precursor to personal, family and ecclesial problems.
Family instruction
Here’s the key to sound family
life:
These words that I command you this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up (Deut. 6:6-7).
The Bible is full of stories that lend themselves to exactly such conversation in everyday family life. The days of creation, the flood, the tower of Babal, Abraham, Joseph in Egypt, the parables, one after the other, these stories are great for relating to children. Yet, if we don’t remember the details, we won’t be able to do it, and we’ll never remember the details if we don’t frequently read the stories. Think of the parable of the Good Samaritan; it contains powerful lessons if we can remember the details. Once we have the story straight, we can put it into a contemporary setting without violating the spirit of its message.
The Proverbs are full of compact sayings that exactly apply to commonplace situations, but we’ll surely forget them if they aren’t read over and over. The Psalms have just the right phrases for all the moods of life, if we get them in our heads by reading and meditating on the word.
We can remember a home where the 10 commandments were written on poster board and hung on the wall, along with a list of the judges, and kings, and illustrations of various parables. It wasn’t the greatest décor, but it seemed to provide many a talking point about the Bible.
Sound decisions
All of us are responsible for making judgments in some area of life, just
like the kings. To keep their judgments in harmony with the mind of God,
the king was to:
Write him a copy of this law in a book and it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them…that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand or to the left (Deut. 17:18-19).
Did that mean daily Bible reading? It must have, because there was no day excluded from “all the days of his life.” Also note the Lord’s concern for the king getting it right. We all have a natural tendency to lean to the right or the left, to the conservative or the liberal side in our decisions. To get it right, we need constant correction and instruction in righteousness, and that’s what the Bible is for (II Tim. 3:16).
Our own hearts
In the Timothy verse, we also note scripture is profitable for doctrine and
reproof, “That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto
all good works” (v. 17). The natural mind tends to be unholy,
thankless, angry, self-justifying, unbelieving, while God wants our mind to
be filled with holy praise, gratitude, gentleness, humility and faith. To
get our own thinking right, to get our own emotions in tune with God’s, we
need to continually let His Word work on our minds; we must have His
thinking written on our hearts and that won’t happen any other way than by
reading, talking about and meditating upon His word. Filling ourselves with
TV, novels, business, etc., certainly will not do it. But “voracious”
Bible reading will.
No excuse
Not so many years ago, there was an excuse many used about reading the
Bible: “I can’t understand the King James Version.” As we know, that
excuse is no longer valid. In recent years, there has been a remarkable
proliferation of Bible versions in the English language. Some of them are
not good for careful Bible study such as interpretative versions such as the
Living Bible, but there is certain to be a version which is useful
for daily reading for any one of us. In addition, a number of versions are
now published with helpful Bible notes. Some of the doctrinal points have
to be ignored, but for general information, they are helpful.
Technology has even become a big aid to Bible reading. It looked like a brother was intently studying his cell-phone during one Bible class when he showed us it was a Bible with wonderful reference helps he could access. Many also use the computer Bible programs which provide a number of versions at the click of a key. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see one of our computer-literate children clicking back and forth between home-work and the Bible rather than between home-work and a computer game. Maybe he will if we have a little more of the “voracious” Bible reading so characteristic of our brethren in Eastern Europe and in the first century.
Don Styles