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One thing is needed

Lena Bergen Friesen

Daily Bible reading is a good, basic Christian habit. There is no substitute for it – not listening to sermons, not reading devotional books, not studying books about the Bible. As we read God’s Word, we discover ideas and promises from God, and learn His will for us. Reading and then obeying what we read causes us to change our behaviour and become more pleasing to God.

The importance of Bible reading for God’s people is illustrated in the lives of individuals in the Bible. One amazing story is that of young King Josiah in 2 Kings 22. Though he had an ungodly father and an ungodly grandfather, he was grieved by what he learned when the priest read the Book of the Law to him. After assembling all his people, King Josiah read the Book of the Law to them. The result was that the people humbled themselves before God and covenanted to obey Him, sparing the whole nation from disaster.

In Psalm 1, David wrote, “Blessed is the man . . . [whose delight] is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.” He went on to say that if someone would do this, he would prosper in all he did. This is a parallel to Joshua 1:8, where God instructed Joshua at the beginning of his leadership of Israel: ”Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything that is written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” (Joshua 1:8).

One day, Jesus and His disciples arrived at Mary and Martha’s home. Instead of helping her sister, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to Him teach. When Martha, who was busy serving the guests, complained to Jesus about Mary not helping, He replied, ”Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better” (Luke 10:41-42). What is better is taking time to be with Jesus. Sometimes we who are “doers” think Jesus was unfair in this instance. A.W. Tozer believes that we have the wrong concept of what God requires. He says in one of his books that God wants us to “be” more than He wants us to “do”. For us, reading the Word is being like Mary. It is listening to God speak.

In his autobiography, George Mueller wrote, “I have been for 68 years and 3 months a lover of the Word of God. During this time I have read considerably more than 100 times through the Bible with prayer and meditation . . . My great love for the Word of God, and my deep conviction of the need of its being spread far and wide, have led me to pray to God to use me as an instrument to do this. He has condescended to enable me to circulate the Scriptures in all parts of the earth . . . and has been pleased thus, simply through the reading of the Holy Scriptures, to bring thousands of persons to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus.”

My own experience has taught me that unless someone has a personal relationship with the Lord, he or she does not have a desire for God’s Word. Before I accepted Jesus at age 13, I listened to stories in Sunday school, to sermons in church and to Dad reading the Bible during devotions. However, I had no motivation to read the Bible for myself. When the Holy Spirit took up His dwelling in my heart, the Bible became a living book to me. I could identify with Jeremiah’s prayer, “When Your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight” (Jeremiah 15:16).

Lena Bergen Friesen is a member of Waterloo (Ont.) MB Church.

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Last modified November 16, 2000.

© 2000 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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