I finished reading through the Gospels and, towards the end, began noticing how little attention i was giving to what i was reading. i experienced very little focus and it was kind of like reading on "auto pilot". i am sure that the Lord was not glorified by my casual skimming over His written Word, and i am equally sure--judging from the lack of highlighting which resulted--that i got very little out of the exercise. Realizing this is not a good feeling! Not so much "waste of time" as "waste of opportunity."
My thinking seemed to be that i was in a hurry to get through the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles so as to be able to get into the "heavy stuff" contained within the Epistles. (i find Revelation, with a few exceptions, a waste of time--even though i know that God must have placed it there for a purpose.)
I guess more prayer before reading is necessary in order to regain the sense of excitement which prevailed the first few times i read through the New Testament. Perhaps using a different Translation each time would also be of help.
But what would probably be the biggest help is a little humility based on the knowledge that even though i have read through the Gospel many times, i still don't "know it all" and have only scratched the surface of the layers of meanings and applications which it contains.
LORD HAVE MERCY THAT IT MAY BE SO!
My thinking seemed to be that i was in a hurry to get through the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles so as to be able to get into the "heavy stuff" contained within the Epistles. (i find Revelation, with a few exceptions, a waste of time--even though i know that God must have placed it there for a purpose.)
I guess more prayer before reading is necessary in order to regain the sense of excitement which prevailed the first few times i read through the New Testament. Perhaps using a different Translation each time would also be of help.
But what would probably be the biggest help is a little humility based on the knowledge that even though i have read through the Gospel many times, i still don't "know it all" and have only scratched the surface of the layers of meanings and applications which it contains.
LORD HAVE MERCY THAT IT MAY BE SO!