How do you feel about reading aloud? My mind can wander when I listen to a lengthy reading. After all, we are the SHORT ATTENTION SPAN GENERATION, right? We crave fast food, music every second of our lives, TV and movies during every free moment until we hit the pillow late at night. Few things train our attention span. One thing will: self-discipline. You have to GUT IT OUT.
Remember what they say at the gym? “Pain is weakness leaving the body?” I say:
“BOREDOM IS WEAKNESS LEAVING THE MIND.”
Don’t hesitate to be bored.
Do your math. Read your textbook. Memorize things. Read dull books. It makes you so much stronger! I speak from experience. Trust me.
Do you prize your “high pain tolerance”? Few things will make you stronger and eventually SMARTER than having a HIGH BOREDOM TOLERANCE.
Not to mention what it will do for your growth as a Christian. I know so many people who have started reading the Bible at Genesis 1:1 and given up in Leviticus! The stories are captivating, but the laws are tedious to a modern reader. Why? Because we are spoiled.
We are SOFT.
The people of Israel were not soft. They were not part of the short attention span generation. They were not discouraged by the tedium of reading law.
“They asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses … before the assembly of men, women and all who could listen with understanding…. He read out of it from daybreak until noon…. All the people listened attentively.” Nehemiah 8:1-3.
This reading of the law—for SIX HOURS A DAY—went on for eight days. And they listened eagerly, many moved to tears.
Pray for a HIGH BOREDOM TOLERANCE, and work hard to get there. Read good books, and most of all, read THE GOOD BOOK. Start with the New Testament.
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