“Resolved: To study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly, and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive, myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.” The great pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards said those words when he was only 20 years old. I’m 22 right now and how I wish I had the drive that Edwards did at the age of 20. Do we long to grow in knowledge of the Scriptures? I do not feel comfortable approaching a crowd on a Sunday morning or a Wednesday night if I have not been in the Word. What right do I have to preach the Word if I am not actively in the Word? We are blessed to have the living, breathing Word of God in our possession. There should never be a time when we open this holy book and say that what we are reading is not as powerful as some other chapter or some other book. If I am not preaching the Word of God, I have no right to call myself a pastor. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:16, “Woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel!” Woe is man if we do not preach the Gospel. How I wish we all had the heart of Paul and felt the burning desire to preach the Gospel and to preach the Word of God! If we neglect this book, if we fail to preach the Word of God, people will have a distorted view of God and of the Gospel and that falls on us, the pastors of the Body of Christ. I cannot stress the importance of needing to dive head first into the Bible and to soak in all that it says. I cannot confidently stand before my listeners if I am failing to give them the Word of God. Pastors and all who proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Make the stand today to devote your lives to the study of His Word so that we can better declare the glory of His name to a world that desperately needs it. Read the Word! Be in the Word! Live out the Word!

-Brady