There are no Cinderella Stories

My first Greek language professor, Dr. Jay Smith, was and probably still is my favorite teacher so far at seminary. After working at UPS from 3am -8:30am, I would run to my car, change in the parking lot and head to greek class which started at 9:10am. Greek would get hard and discouraging, but he would always spend about 45min of class time on motivational speeches, and provide perspective on life, and then teach 15 min of Greek.

During one such motivational speech, he described a Nike commercial. At the end of the commercial it says "There are no Cindarella stories." The point the commercial was trying to make is that champions are not made over night. The point Dr. Jay was trying to make was the ability to master the Greek language and in turn the Holy Scriptures will not happen over night without effort. The Bible contains gold nuggets of eternal truth that satisfy the soul, guide life and reveal the character of the Triune God. The Bible does not yield it's fruit to the lazy.

Do not expect to master the Bible in a day, or a month, or a year. Rather expect often to be puzzled by its contents. It is not all equally clear. Great men of God often feel like absolute novices when they read the Word. The Apostle St. Peter said that there were some things hard to understand in the epistles of St. Paul (2 Peter 3:16). I am glad he wrote those words because I have felt that often. So do not expect always to get an emotional charge or a feeling of quiet peace when you read the Bible. By the grace of God you may expect that to be a frequent experience, but often you will get no emotional response at all. Let the Word break over your heart and mind again and again as the years go by, and imperceptibly there will come great changes in your attitude and outlook and conduct. You will probably be the last to recognize these. Often you will feel very, very small, because increasingly the God of the Bible will become to you wonderfully great. So go on reading it until you can read no longer, and then you will not need the Bible any more, because when you eyes close for the last time in death, and never again read the Word of God in Scripture you will open them to the Word of God in the flesh, that same Jesus of the Bible whom you have known for so long, standing before you to take you forever to His eternal home. (Last paragraph is a quote from Geoffrey Thomas, a Welsh pastor, from his booklet "Reading the Bible".)

Read the Word of God today!!