When Scripture Gets Put on the Back Burner

   Life is busy. I'm only seventeen and believe me, I know how crazy life can get. It often feels like I'm bouncing from one activity or responsibility to the next with zero time to think in between. Finishing school has turned out to be busier than the last however-many-years of education, and although learning new things is exciting and inspiring, it takes up time that I once used to relax. There are only so many hours in a day. Thirty minutes of wasted time in one day doesn't seem like much - until you realize that you've wasted 15 hours by the end of a month. (Kind of makes you want to get up and get moving, doesn't it?) I set aside a few hours for studying, a couple for writing/drafting a story, and several for working, cleaning, playing, etc. We only have so much time to live life to its fullest!

   And we only have so much time to make an impact for the kingdom of Heaven.

   One of my biggest struggles has been making time to really develop a relationship with Jesus. It doesn't take much to begin the day with thirty minutes of Bible study and a few minutes of prayer, only somehow, it often gets lost in the scramble for "getting things done". I profess to the world that Jesus is the most important thing in my life. If that's true, then how can I make time for school work, writing, "horse play", and reading, but can't seem to fit in my Bible?

   Surely I can't be the only one who struggles with this. In fact, I know I'm not. Just look on the shelves of your local Christian bookstore and you'll find "ten-minute devotion" booklets, "single-verse-a-day devos" for the Christian on the go - anything short and sweet that you can fit into a busy life. I'm not saying it's bad to think and meditate on a single verse at a time. But if all we're doing is getting our "Jesus-Fix" for the day then checking Him off the list and walking away, does it really matter?

   There was once a time when people died for the sake of their Savior. There was once a time, when men were willing to lay down their lives just so that the common man could read the Bible. There was a time when Christian's were imprisoned, persecuted, and tortured for Jesus Christ.

   Stephen stood boldly before the Jewish council, proclaimed his faith without wavering, and never took his eyes off of Heaven as he was stoned to death.

   Vibia Perpetua was a 19-year-old girl with an infant son, yet she went fearlessly to the lions for the sake of Christ.

   William Tyndale risked everything to translate the word of God so that even "the common plow boy" could read the scripture, and went without regret to be burned at the stake.

   Five men in the jungle of Ecuador were ruthlessly killed on the banks of a river by the very natives they had prayed for and worked relentlessly to reach that they might share the gospel.

   To these people, Jesus was everything.

   And yet I don't have time to read my Bible?

   Hebrews 4:12 says "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, or joints, and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the hear." If we as Christians really believed that the Bible is what it says it is, then it would be hard to go a day without reading it.

  It's time to stop reading scripture as an obligation. Read it like it is the spoken word of God. Read it like every sentence could change the world.

   Because it is, and it could.