“Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near” (Revelation 1:3). Here is a promised blessing to those who read or hear it and take to heart what is written in it. Periodically, I take an informal poll that goes something like this: How long have you been a Christian, in years? How many times do you know that you have read the whole Bible? How many times do you know that you have read all of the New Testament? The last time was a few months ago in an evangelical church in another state. We collected all of the answers, added up the years and divided the total times into the total years. The results were, as I remember, for the New Testament once every four years; for the whole Bible once every eight years. At a men’s conference a few years ago, the results were New Testament once every 17 years, the whole Bible once every 27 years. If we have a conference of cons...
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). It was at a Bible conference in Japan in 1956 where I heard Bill Pape teach on faith. One of his statements stayed with me over these many years. It was, “ Faith requires ignorance .” Recently,* I received a letter from a man named Gary, a Young Life staffer in San Jose. Let me quote them both, starting with Gary. “It became quickly apparent that I had indeed relied very heavily on clarity and detail when it came to seeking God’s answers. Whether for myself or for those I work with, I was guilty of wanting clear answers and direction as the ultimate assurance of God’s will. “I began to consider people in the Bible that God directed. It seemed that in almost all cases He gave them only enough information to take the next step. ‘Leave your family and go to a far country that I will show you,’ ‘Stay in the city for three days until I send someone to you,’ ‘Stay in Jerusalem until I se...