An Edwards Moment

As I read Jonathon Edwards Resolutions this morning, his resolution #28 stood out to me. It reads “Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.”

My wife, Suzi, and I meet with young couples and couples to be all the time and the one constant we find is that they struggle with their time in the Word. This does not surprise me, because we as a society, Christians included, make ourselves so busy that we squeeze God out of our lives. At times I am certainly guilty of this. I will schedule early morning meetings before I go to work and set my alarm to go off only early enough to provide time for a shower. The paper route helped me to schedule my mornings better and even to learn how to lean on God when I am tired.

Another problem is that we are entertainment driven and the reading of scripture is not entertaining to us. When I was a young Christian this was a problem for me. The reading of scripture just did not seem fun and bored me. I now know that this could have been a fatal flaw in my faith. If it were not for a sermon I heard during this time I probably would still be looking for the entertainment value in scripture. In this sermon, the pastor asked his congregation “what brings you here this morning? Is it the reading and instruction of the Word of God? Or is it me and my speaking ability?” He went on later asking if the people were at that particular church because of its reputation in evangelical circles. This hit me like a ton of bricks. Was I merely looking to be entertained? Was my enjoyment on the Word itself?

After this watershed moment my Christian walk changed drastically. I now read the Word because I enjoy reading about what God has done through the people in scripture who struggled just like me. What an example these men and women are! I just don’t read the Word though, I listen to it. As you can see by the podcasts I have designated out, I listen to a lot of different pastors. The main thing though is that these men teach the truth and do not water it down. So between reading and listening to the Word I fill my mind with scripture.

The main benefit that comes from the constant reading and hearing of Gods Word in my life is that when I am dealing with hard times at work or at home I have scripture in my mind to recall. It helps strengthen me in those times of trial. Like Edwards, I find myself growing in my knowledge and its truths.

So I leave you with this, are you reading scripture “steadily, constantly and frequently”?