Reading Words vs. Seeping Content


Shane Sanchez
Do you ever read something and then pause, to discover that you have no clue what you're eyes just glanced over?

I am the KING of reading words and not seeping in content.

I've been struggling with this since at least my freshman year of high school. I was unintentionally trained to not grasp what I was reading while in school. Reading became necessary and I was normally assigned dry, empty books that meant nothing to me past graduation day. Reading words and missing content became my preferred method of self-teaching mainly due to the fact that it got me by with a passing grade.

Then God decided that post-high school would be a great time for me to realize I enjoy reading thought-provoking material. I began to enjoy reading books that taught me more about who I am in Christ. I even started reading my Bible on a regular basis. I'm 20 days away from reading the Bible in it's entirety in one year.

But, this thought hit me today:

"What have I missed?"

I faithfully read my Bible from cover to cover, but did I grasp what it was saying? Yes, I prayed before and after, but when I was tired and simply read just to complete a task, did I take anything from it? How many times did I miss God trying to speak into my life because I was more concerned about getting to the next days reading than allowing the Spirit to engage me in it's content?

It's scary what we become. We've all done it. We've been trained to read words and not seep content. The most dangerous part of this scenario is that we apply our training to Bible reading.

Starting now I'm doing things differently. The Bible isn't the same as other books in the "Christian Inspiration" section of Barnes and Noble. The Bible is the inspired word of God. I refuse to skim over the words and familiar stories. I want to go deeper, listen more intently, and allow God to use everything in the Bible to further strengthen my relationship with Him and understanding of Him.

What have you been missing?

Take Your Time,
Shane


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3 comments:

Michele said...

great word!

Dec 12, 2009, 7:18:00 AM
Anonymous said...

This guy is the REAL DEAL.

Dec 12, 2009, 8:44:00 AM
Shane Sanchez said...

Thanks Michele, God speaks even when I just read the words.
PJ, thanks a lot man! Means a lot that you read this stuff!

Dec 12, 2009, 10:53:00 PM

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