I was extremely encouraged by all of the girls who posted verses each day in the comments section in my post last week. I was also challenged by the accountability to make sure that I was getting up each morning and having my devotional time. Thanks so much for helping me out with that challenge. You're the best! It's time for some more honesty on my part. I am fast-paced type of a girl. I walk fast, I eat fast, I talk fast. I even grew fast and tall. In some areas of life, that can be a great thing—but not always. When it comes to my personal devotion time and Bible reading, being fast-paced is not such great quality to have. The Bible is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16) It's 100 percent God's inspired Word written for each one of us. God perfectly orchestrated the Bible to give us the exact information that He wanted us to have. It's packed full of wisdom, insight, direction, and truth. No matter how much we study it, there will always be more to learn. We can never get enough of it. Ready for my honest confession? I am a recovering Bible zoomer. A Bible zoomer is someone who reads their Bible fast and in a hurry. Sadly, I admit that I have been guilty of this way too many times. After years of Bible zooming, I've realized that my relationship with God, understanding of Scripture, and general peace in life is not what it should be. God didn't intend for us to open the Bible, sprint through the passages, and then move on. He gave us the Bible to study, meditate on, gain wisdom from, and grow from. How can we do those things if we are not spending quality time in the Bible? Here comes the good news. In the past two to three years I have had a major Bible reading shift. I finally understood the wisdom of 2 Corinthians 9:6:
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
For way too many years I was sowing sparingly in my personal devotions, and in return, I reaped sparingly. Now I take the time to sow bountifully, spending quality time in the Bible, trying to understand what the passages mean and meditating on them. The rewards have been huge. I actually remember what I've read later on in the day. That's a big deal for a Bible zoomer. I know that I'm not the only girl who's struggled with zooming through her Bible reading. Are you guilty of being Bible zoomer? I want to challenge you to stop the zooming and slow down. Take time to look through the passage and truly understand the words that you read. Don't hurry through your devotions and then sprint to the next activity. Take your time, and slow down. How can you improve the quality of your devotional time? How you can you create more time for your Bible reading?