A dear brother texted the following:
“Good morning Rev.Proctor, truthful I been working a lot, no excuse though I should make time for the Word like I do for everything else. Keep us in prayer !!!! Love Mrs.Pat & you . Blessings!”
Many Christ-followers experience getting too busy to spend personal time reading God’s word. I have come close to that a number of times myself, especially after my seminary studies because I felt I had been loaded with Bible knowledge. But my conscious “slapped me,” saying, “you are more ignorant of the Bible, church history, ancient history, Western history, and US history than you realize.” That was way back in 1981. Since then, I have been “nose diving” into the scriptures and intently studying various aspects of history. Since I still feel vastly ignorant, I continue to plow through the scriptures and read as many good book as I can.
Why? Because the Bible reveals liberating truth to me (John 8:31-32; 17:17), and history reveals how humans have applied or not applied biblical truth (Rom. 1:18, 25).
So, here’s my advice to my brother:
Thanks for your honesty. While we all struggle with taking time to read the Word, we must do it. Satan wants us to believe his lies by giving us many reasons to avoid reading God's word. Then his lies will all the more influence our thinking and make us feel justified for neglecting God's word and thus easily accept his lies. Remember,
"All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Let me know when we can meet.”
As 1 Peter 2:2 says, “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, and like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord”
(1 Peter 2:1-3Blessings!
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