October 16, 2008

Use it—or Lose it

Mark 4:21-25
And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

As I read this passage from Mark, the phrase that jumped out at me is "pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." In the context given by Mark, this is apparently saying that if I desire the Word of God and if I dig at the Word with large scoops, more and more of the Word will be dealt out to me. That's a great promise.

But the passage also goes on to show a contrast with "from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away." Again, this is in the context of hearing the Word of God. So if I cease to pursue the study of the Word, if I stop having regular devotions, if I stop meditating regularly on scripture, that which I have already learned will begin to be lost.

I have experienced both sides of this and realize in a pragmatic and existential way the truth of this passage. I am moved to recommit to regular study of scripture. May God bless my study (and yours) with greater volumes and greater depths of the Word.

7 comments:

  1. "I am moved to recommit to regular study of scripture. May God bless my study (and yours) with greater volumes and greater depths of the Word."

    I will join you in that prayer, Richard, for both of us. I made a similar recommitment in January and am plugging along, learning something each day and receiving comfort and blessings. Peggy

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  2. Peggy - So often I get over-busy and decide to do my devotions and bible study later in the day. But I have found that when I do that, I tend to not get to it. If I do it first thing in the morning, I actually do it - and reap the benefits throughout the day.

    I think it just comes down to finding the right way to do this (different for each of us, I'm sure) and then stick to that. Personally, I really need a solid schedule or things fall by the wayside. And I can't afford to allow Bible study to fall by the wayside.

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  3. Richard, That book I have been reading, "The Practice of Godliness" by Bridges notes that living the Christian life (not salvation, of course) is an odd combination of utter dependance on God and self-discipline and responsibility. Faithful Bible reading and study is, for me, the latter. A schedule is important to me, too.I even use a chart so I can see what I have done. Otherwise it is easy for me to go several days and not realize that I have slipped. It is good to encourage one another. :) Peggy

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  4. I've found a unique way of getting my devotions in -- I've set my home page to Crosswalk's Daily Bible Reading. I have to purposefully leave the page without reading in order to put it off. That's very hard to do!!

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  5. Mary - I've been using the Crosswalk Daily Bible Reading plan (in ESV) for about three years now and have found it to be tremendously beneficial.

    I recently discovered their RSS feeds and have my RSS reader (Snarfer freeware) set up to receive the 1-year ESV Reading Plan and the ESV Chronological Reading Plan. I've been doing the chronological reading this year and have really enjoyed it. And the RSS reader has helped nudge me each morning, just like you described in your comment.

    Chronological RSS Feed:
    http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/share/rss2.0/chronological/

    1-Year Reading Plan:
    http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/share/rss2.0/daily.reading.bible/

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  6. Oops - those fell off the side of the page. Here they are again as links:

    Daily Reading Plan

    Chronological Reading Plan

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  7. But those will only work in RSS readers. It's gonna look pretty weird if you just click on the link and try to view it in a browser.

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