“WHY, of course! I am a Christian, so it surely is hardly needful to ask that question.”
On the contrary, it is unfortunately only too necessary. All too many Christians only use their Bibles in a most fitful way and when they do take them up it is only to glance at texts or favorite portions here and there. They do not give the sacred volume a steady consecutive reading as they certainly would were it any ordinary book.
“Well, but I do read consecutively. Every day I read a passage, though I have not much time.”
That is good. But there is another question—having read your portion do you pause a moment to mentally visualize, to formulate in your mind, what it is that you have read; and thus retain some definite impression, some residue of truth that may abide with you forever?
To add point to our question we print below an extract from an American magazine, Record of Christian Work, which furnishes a rather pertinent illustration. The story comes, we believe, from the report of the American Bible Society.
“A sensational crime had been committed. The police drag-net brought in scores of vagrants and suspicious characters. Among the throng was a young chap, who instantly attracted the officers’ attention. His general appearance, his size, even the dark blue suit he wore, answered the description given by one who had gotten a glimpse of the fleeing criminal.
The young man was closely questioned. He could produce witnesses to verify most of his statements, but when it came to accounting for his whereabouts during the time the crime was committed he claimed to have been alone in his cold and cheerless room. The fact that he had just arrived in the city a few days previous, had no employment and was without funds increased the suspicion of the officers. Unable to get evidence to charge him with the crime, he was brought before the police judge and charged with vagrancy, with the expectation of holding him in jail until they could complete their case against him.
The judge began to question the young man, but could not get him to change his original story. Finally the judge asked what he was doing in his room during the hour in question.
The young man replied: ‘I was reading my Bible.’
A ripple of derisive laughter went through the crowded courtroom. The judge said that he himself had been ‘floored’ by that answer, but deciding to follow it up he demanded to know exactly what part of the Bible the boy had read.
The young man replied that he had read the Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. At the judge’s request the young man stated the subject matter of his reading, ‘but,’ said the judge as he related the incident, ‘“Your Honor” knew so little about the Bible that I was uncertain whether the young man was really telling the truth or not. I asked if anyone present knew whether these things were in the Bible, but no one could answer. I then called for a Bible, but, alas, there was not a copy to be found, so an officer was sent out to buy one. When it came I confidently opened it at Genesis, and after leafing through to Psalms or Proverbs without finding Corinthians, I asked the young man to find the place. He instantly turned to the right chapter, and handed the Bible back to me. After scanning several pages I knew the young man had told the truth.
So impressed was the judge that he personally followed the case. Within a few days the young man had fully established his innocence, the judge had found him employment, and at last reports he was advancing from one potion of trust to another.
In that court today one will find a Bible, and as the judge told me, with a twinkle in his eye, ‘If ever another man wishes to establish an alibi based on having read a certain book of the Bible, I’ll not look for Corinthians in the Old Testament; for I have nearly finished reading the Book from cover to cover.’”
There is really appalling ignorance of the contents of the Bible even in English speaking lands where it is freely circulated as the above extract shows; but we have not cited it in connection with this but rather to draw attention to a young man who having read in Paul’s Epistle to the Corinthians was able when challenged to state the subject matter of his reading. The summary of what he had read given by word of mouth was evidently of sufficient clearness and accuracy to convince the judge on referring to the Scripture itself that he had told the truth. A remarkable young man that!
It is said that millions of people, habitual novel readers, have formed the pernicious habit of reading without any real exercise of mind. Their eyes rapidly flit from line to line, page after page and the story flows like a torrent over their mind, inducing certain pleasing sensations in their nervous systems. Their emotions are touched, they shed, if necessary, a few sentimental tears, and then—nothing more! It is like a river rolling in a bed with an asphalt surface, where not enough water penetrates to maintain life in even a blade of grass. It is very easy to read the Bible in just this fashion and we need to watch against the habit.
The habit itself is an old one and portrayed for us in the pages of Scripture itself. The Lord warned Ezekiel on the subject as he tells us in verse 30 to 33 of his thirty-third chapter. The people came to listen to him saying, “Come I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.” Having arrived they sat before him and heard his words but would not do them. The word of the Lord through Ezekiel’s lips was to them what the word of the Lord in the Bible is to many in our days — “a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument.”
How accurate a simile is this! The skillful pianist and sweet singer seats herself at the instrument. “Now we are in for a treat” is your mental observation as you subside into an armchair. Closing your eyes and leaning back you let the sweet strains float in at your ears and over your brain. Yet if at the end of the performance you were asked to formulate what it had conveyed to you, the request would seem unreasonable. It conveyed nothing and was intended to minister nothing but a few moments of exceedingly pleasurable sensation.
You enjoy your morning Bible reading perhaps. You enjoy that pleasing and well-phrased address to Christians, but what has it conveyed to you? It is certainly intended that something shall be conveyed to you. It is not a very lovely song” merely for your passing entertainment and enjoyment.
The fact is, you really must THINK, both as you read and after you read. You must also pray, of course. “Open Thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things” must again and again be your petition. But when the Lord has opened your eyes you must use them. You possess thinking faculties, and you must use them. Then it is that you will begin to intelligently retain the truth of God.