Minute Meditations

We have all heard it said that we learn by doing and this is true. Experience is a very good teacher. The wise man, however, does not try to learn everything by personal experience. Life is too short to learn everything this way. A wise man reads and observes the mistakes and triumphs of others in an effort to benefit from their experience. An excellent example of this is the first Kaiser automobile which was built just after World War II. Now had the manufacturer started at the beginning as the makers of the first automobiles did, his car would have looked very much like the first horseless carriages. Instead, he studied the features and designs of all the leading makes and as a consequence he benefitted from their experience and produced a car comparable to theirs although he did not have the many years of experience behind him that they did. This wisdom is not found in all of us, for it seems that each generation insists on learning many things for themselves the hard way. The experience of their parents is disregarded and they insist upon burning their own fingers upon the stove that scarred the hands of their forefathers.

There are many things to learn where personal experience is too high a price to pay. To learn not to play in the street by being run over may teach us a never-to-be-forgotten lesson, but we may not live long enough to benefit from our experience. As parents we know how much we could save our children if they would only listen and learn. For this reason we often repeat a principle over and over again in hopes that by the process of repetition the lesson may become engraved in their minds. Paul tells us, ”For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.”

We see then the love and wisdom of God in providing us with our Bibles to teach, warn, rebuke and instruct us in His holy precepts. The wise man recognizes the importance of God’s words and the need for repetition. We should then remember Peter’s words, ”I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance.” The disciples at Berea were commended because they were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily.

Realizing the need for daily Bible reading, let us make use of the wonderful tool we have to aid us in our reading of the scriptures each day. It is called ”The Bible Companion” and it will lead us through the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice each year. The good habit of daily Bible reading will help us to benefit from the trials and experiences of God’s chosen people and avoid the pitfalls which exact their toll upon the less wise. As God’s children we shall know the holy scriptures which are able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.