Ever Learning...

Every morning for years, my Grandma Bert does the same thing. It's usually before daylight. She gets up, fixes herself a cup of coffee, gets a donut stick out, and sits down with a book.

She reads at least three chapters, every single day of her life.

Because of this, she's read the Bible through more times than she can count.

My Grandma Na was the same way. I don't think she ever had a reading plan. I think she just looked forward to time in God's Word. She didn't own a TV and didn't rely on a computer.... just lots of those whispering pages underneath her fingertips.

There is truly something powerful about the Word of God. I find that when I devote time in His Word, I am generally calmer, more settled, if you will.

And it's like a Lays potato chip (only better!) because once I get in His Word, I find myself hating that I have to stop.

It's the making time that I struggle with.

And it's crazy, because I KNOW the power that it has. And there are so many other things I do that are complete time wasters.

Last night at Bible study we were talking about meditating... really thinking about His Word, and then we talked about the verses from 2 Timothy that so describe our time... a time when His Word won't matter to others.

A time when they won't endure sound doctrine... when they will search for someone to tell them what they want to hear.

And a portion of that passage made me stop and pause.

2 Timothy 3:7, "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Ever learning. To learn, you have to be actively seeking something.

Y'all... we have His Word at the click of our fingertips. You go into a bookstore and the number of Bible studies is tremendous. We could never do them all, or never learn everything there is to know about His Word.

I recently joined an online Bible study of a book that has over 40,000 women signed up.

40,000.

And there are Bible apps and reading plans and church apps and accountability groups...

because deep down, we all have a God-shaped hole in our heart and we are searching for some way to fill it.

I can't help but think, that in what I believe truly are the last days, we have so many options to choose from because it's a means of causing us to avoid the subject.

And I'm not saying that Bible studies are bad, or that books are bad, or that apps and reading plans are bad...

because we have to first get into the Word of God to get it into us.

But sometimes I think we (and I'm guilty) are so busy reading the latest publication or trying that new reading plan that we forget why we wanted to be involved in the first place.

His Word is like living water, refreshing... if we'll drink of it.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

And here we are, the blind leading the blind, sometimes...

On the way home last night Caleb and I were talking about knowing God, and knowing God is real.

It's a struggle in today's world, I believe.

Especially for a teenager who is seeing changes in the world around him, in a world that is "denying the power thereof."

I told Caleb that knowing God is just like knowing someone he wants to have a relationship with...

You have to spend time with Him.

Talking to Him (Praying)...

and listening to Him.

And the best way to hear from Him?

By opening up His Word... God-breathed and inspired and good for doctrine and instruction and rebuke (even though we hate rebuke).

I think we tend to overcomplicate it.

No reading plan required, even though they are nice.

No Bible study required, even though they can be very helpful.

All you need is the Bible, and to open it up and soak it up.

Pick a chapter and read. Look up the word you don't understand. Reflect on what you think it is saying. Ask God to show you how it applies to you.

And allow it to change you...

May I not be one ever learning but never coming to the truth...

because the truth sets us free.