My heart was leaping in agreement and at the same time I was cut to the quick when I began reading Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Meg and I are going to be studying this sermon methodically and I am even considering teaching a Wed PM class using the good doctor’s book as a help. He writes:
It is obviously important that we should approach this Book in the right manner. We must start by agreeing that merely to read the Bible is not enough in and of itself. It is possible for us to read the Bible in such a mechanical manner that we derive no benefit from doing so. That is why I think we have to be careful with every kind of rule and regulation int he matter of discipline in the spiritual life. It is a good thing to read the Bible daily, but it can be quite profitless if we merely do so for the sake of being able to say we read the Bible daily. I am a great advocate of schemes of Bible reading, but we have to be careful that in our use of such schemes we are not content just to read the portion for the day and then quit to rush off without thought and meditation. That can be quite profitless. Our approach to the Bible is something which is of vital importance.
These words are really a microscope into my heart. Too often in my daily time in the Word this is exactly what I do. Oh for grace to not merely read but to listen.
