Obsessed?

Posted on 01.28.2010. Filed under: Life | Tags: faith |

Books captivate me. They hold my mind hostage while I’m reading them. The best books hold my mind hostage for hours, days after finishing them. It’s a borderline obsession. While I’m in the middle of a book, it’s all I can think about. I have a compulsion to finish as soon as I can. Household chores get ignored. Lunch and dinner are delayed because I’m so focused on the book. I’ll stay up late to finish, instead of going to bed at a reasonable hour.

Ok, ok. I admit it. It’s not a borderline obsession. It’s a full-blown start-a-book-and-HAVE-to-finish-it-as-soon-as-I-can kind of obsession.

This post was to be about something different, but as I wrote the above, I got to thinking. Dangerous, I know.

Why am I not obsessed like that when I read the Bible?

Why do I read the Bible and forget what I just read? When I read other books, I replay particular scenes in my mind for weeks afterwards. I break down certain themes and anaylze them, find their connections to the rest of the story. With the Bible, I think, “Oh, that was interesting.” and then go on with life.

Although, I did randomly open my Bible last week and discovered that mold remediation has not changed much since Old Testament times – the main difference is that a priest is overseeing the process instead of a contractor. Oh, and the whole purifying the house with the blood of a dead bird. That doesn’t happen anymore. Leviticus 14. Good Stuff. Seriously. The point is, I do remember some things from the Bible.

But I digress. I say I love the Lord, and I say I want to follow Him wholeheartedly. That’s part of why this particular blog was started. To share about DOING, ACTING on what God is leading me to do.

Ok, I just discovered the answer. The obsession with reading the Bible will come. I just have to read it first.

Really, truly read.

Not skim, but pay attention to what is there. I can’t obsess over other books if they just sit on the shelf. The same is true for the Bible.

Dear God,

Help me to fall in love with the Bible. To really love it, to want it, to obsess over it. Help me to keep focused on You, and what You want me to learn. Help me to not only learn, but to live what I learn.

Love,

Rachel