“And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.” (Vs. 3)
The attentiveness they had to the public reading of Scripture should be astounding. All who could understand listened attentively, those who were young and those who were old, but still with understanding all listened attentively, children, teenagers, and all ages.
Tell me what would it be like if we-- all ages -- who could understand listened to the Word of God with full attention? If the middle schooler and high schooler cared more about what the Bible says as opposed to what their friends think; if the college student would see the truth of Scripture as more important than the professors red pen or the drunken party; if the middle-aged man would see the weight of Scripture as more important than his own selfish desires; if the mother would see the beauty of Scripture as more exquisite than her own precious children; if the grandparents where more worried about the next generations devotion God’s Word rather than fighting the constant change about them? How different would the church be?
What would building a church for the city look like if this one thing were different?
Granted not all are called to the same thing. There are different giftings and different talents distributed according to the will of God the Spirit, but to be Christian is to know God and to know God his word must be learned. To be Christian is to love God and to love God there must be weight put on his words. I have said it before and it is worthy of repeating, if you do not love the Word of God, then there is no love for the Speaker of those Words in your heart.
For you know the illustration well of a lover’s letter being important to the loved and so it is with this point that if we truly loved God we would truly be endured to his Word for the Lover has spoken and we the loved are inclined to the beauty of those words.
But this brings up the side point; Sunday cannot be the only day we learn from Scripture.
The day your Community Group meets cannot be the only other day besides Sunday within which you learn from the Bible. We are all called to be hearing from God on a consistent basis. And therefore it is important that we be consistently within the pages of the Good Book. Reflecting upon its words.
If this means getting up incredibly early to simply read a few lines then so be it. I know of those who regularly get up at 4am so as to spend an hour in the Bible before they begin their day. Likewise I know of those who forgo time with friends and family so that in the late night they can be for a time set in Scripture.
All of this to say do not be only in the Word once a week. You would not eat just once a week, you would not drink just once a week, and your physical body needs nutriment and strengthening giving by eating and drinking. Similarly why would you let your spiritual self, your true self, only eat once a week and drink once a week? Is this not masochistic? To torture your soul with starvation and dehydration, is this not insanity?
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