Most of us have excused ourselves from doing good things by saying, “I don’t have time.” Such a statement may be an actual reason. However, there are times when it becomes just an excuse.
Making a cake or pie takes from one to two hours. Baking cookies takes the same, depending on the complexity of the recipe. Putting together a delicious dinner for the family, if well planned, takes an hour or so. Playing a video game exhausts at least forty-five minutes. Watching a college football game takes at least two and a half hours. A basketball game will require nearly two hours. Andy Griffith, local news, national news and Wheel of Fortune all last thirty minutes. Few of us would miss watching our favorite team or program. We purposefully block out that time for a few moments of relaxation and personal pleasure. Is it really a matter of not having time or a matter of priorities? It may be just an excuse.
Philemon, for instance, can be read in less than two minutes. Titus takes less than five. Reading both letters to Timothy takes about twenty-five minutes. James can be read in twelve minutes, 1 and 2 Thessalonians in sixteen and Galatians in nineteen. Peter’s epistles can be finished in twenty-five minutes and John’s in fifteen. Matthew takes about two hours, but can easily be divided into four thirty minute segments.
The average reader can read the entire New Testament in under fifteen hours. Those who devote just thirty minutes per day to reading their Bible can read it once per month. Devoting the same thirty minutes per day to reading the Old Testament will see the project completed in less than four months.
When we neglect to read and meditate on God’s word we are simply robbing ourselves of great riches. “The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of coins of gold and silver” (Psalm 119:72). That treasure should be stored in our hearts, so that we can be pleasing to our Father. “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You” (Psalm 119:11).
The Psalmist says the blessed man is the one whose, “delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper” (Psalm 1). The beauty of God’s message is that it is able to make us see ourselves as we really are in our very core. “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
Will you join me in committing to read the Bible daily? Reserve at least thirty minutes a day for God’s word. I think all of us will become better acquainted with our Father and learn more about pleasing him in the process.
“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15-17 ESV). When we stand before the great Judge, what will he say about the stewardship of our time?
Today’s Verse: Instructions to every new Israelite king: Deuteronomy 17:18-20 “Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.”
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by Teresa Hampton