Skip to main content

Same Page Summer

 


"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage, with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 3:16-4:2).

"Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching" (1 Timothy 4:13).

There was a time when there were very few Bibles, even in cultured lands. There were no printing presses, and most of the people were illiterate. If people received the Word, it was through the public reading of Scripture by people who could read and had the Scriptures. Now in the church today in this country, we can read, and we each own at least one Bible.

A year ago* at one of our schools of practical Christianity, we asked the students three questions: "How long have you been a Christian? How many times have you read the New Testament? How many times have you read the Old Testament?" When the answers were added, we found out that the average reading of the New Testament was every 2 ½ years, and the average reading of the Old Testament was every 7 years.

This last weekend, I was at a men’s conference, and I asked the same three questions. The total number of years of Christianity was 514.5 years. The total number of times through the New Testament was 36 and through the Old Testament was 18. In other words, the New Testament was read every 14 years and the Old every 28 years. This amounts to spending less than 30 seconds a day in the Bible. This is not very encouraging.

Here is a plan we hope will encourage you to read the New Testament. Even if you are a very slow reader, you can read the whole Bible through in 80 hours. If you are a listener instead of a reader, you can listen to the whole Bible on an audio app. I listen in my car and enjoy it very much.


*Written May 1992.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ripe for Harvest: Prepared to Give an Answer

As you read through the book of Acts, look at every conversion, and see what happened right before it: what was said, who said it. The situations are the same today.     A long time ago, my duty in the Officer’s Christian Fellowship was the east coast of the United States. I went to an officer’s office at Fort Lee, VA, and stayed overnight, then I went on to Norfolk and Fort Bragg.    Forty years later, I was no longer on the staff of OCF, but I had to go to Denver. While I was in Denver, I checked in at the OCF offices. There was the same Air Force officer I had met in Fort Lee, retired now, a colonel. I had stayed in his house when he was a first lieutenant. He asked me, “Do you know what happened when you stayed overnight?” I said, “No, I just remember staying in your home.” He said, “You led the next-door neighbor to Christ.” I had no memory of it.    Ten years after that, I was speaking at a banquet at the Hotel Salisbury, and who was th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Is Obedience So Hard?

There are several reasons why obedience seems hard. I will comment on some of them and then speak positively on how obedience is easy. We think: 1) Obedience is an infringement on freedom. Since we are free in Christ, and obedience is somehow contrary to that freedom, we conclude that obedience is not good. Yet we know it is good. Thus, we become confused about obedience and are not single-minded. 2) Obedience is works. We who have been justified by grace through faith are opposed to works; therefore, we are opposed to obedience. 3) We have tried to obey and have failed—frequently. Therefore, the only solution is to disobey and later confess to receive forgiveness. It is easier to be forgiven by grace than to obey by effort. 4) We confuse obedience to men with obedience to God. Although these are sometimes one and the same (see Romans 13, 1 Peter 2-3, Ephesians 5-6, Colossians 3, and Titus 2), sometimes they are not the same (see Colossians 2:20-23, Mark 7, 1 Timothy 4:1-5, a...
7 comments
Read more

Joy

Here are five biblical passages on joy: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness” (Galatians 5:22). “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior” (Habakkuk 3:17-18). “The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17). “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you” (Psalms 51:12-13). “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.’ He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have give...
Post a Comment
Read more