In the last couple weeks I have had occasion to read a few books of the Bible completely out loud all in one sitting. The other day (Saturday) I managed to read both I & II Thessalonians while we were finishing up lunch which helped to turn what started out being a raucous day into something quite a bit more palatable. It was interesting to see how attentive both Ian and Nathaniel could be while I read two whole, albeit short, books of the Bible.
Earlier the previous week I took one evening and read through the whole book of I Corinthians aloud to my wife while she was trying to get the baby down to sleep. That took quite a bit longer, of course, but she was unable to do anything else and appreciated being able to hear the word spoken even if the baby still wasn't asleep once I was through.
There is great benefit to reading the Bible out loud. Not only does it naturally slow us down, but it allows others to also hear at the same time. We also increase our own comprehension by hearing as well as reading. Add to this that the shorter books are quite easy to read, even out loud, in a single sitting. Some books (Obadiah, Philemon, 2 John, 3 John, & Jude) are as short as a single chapter and over a dozen more are just four chapters or less. It is indeed not burdensome then to expose both ourselves and those who can listen to much biblical content.
No comments:
Post a Comment