This picture from January 2017 makes me laugh, and brings a bit of conviction at the same time.
The laughter (obviously) comes from the wrestling character standing in then middle of my Bibles! It was a Christmas present from my niece, so I kept it close by the remember her.
The conviction comes because so little of my time is spent on Bible study like this.
Oh don’t mis-understand it’s not that I don’t want to study Scripture, but life (and yes ministry) takes up lots of my time.
There is always going to be a balance between ministry and study. It’s incredibly tempting to allow the “ministry time” to begin creeping into your “study time.” Particularly if your someone task-motivated like me.
Please don’t do it
The truth is Satan LOVES IT when ministry replaces study!
Of course he hates the ministry that we do for the Lord. But personal growth, as well as ministry growth is directly connected to the amount of time we spend with the Word of God.
So if I spend five-hours in ministry and thirty-minutes in Scripture guess who won?
Sadly we don’t live in a perfect world so study time will never be truly equal with ministry time. But It’s only as that study time is prioritised and defended, that our ministry will truly bring fruit.
Johnhwilburn.org 