LDS WHY

We hope the title of this post pulled you in, but didn’t knock you over.   We aren’t talking about the kind of affair that includes lying, dishonesty, immorality, or family ruin.  No, this site is meant to help us live LDS standards, not break them.  Read the following quote from President Gordon B. Hinckley and you’ll see what kind of love affair we are talking about:

“I am grateful for emphasis on reading the scriptures. I hope that for you this will become something far more enjoyable than a duty; that, rather, it will become a love affair with the word of God. I promise you that as you read, your minds will be enlightened and your spirits will be lifted. At first it may seem tedious, but that will change into a wondrous experience with thoughts and words of things divine” (President Gordon B. Hinckley, The Light within You, Ensign (CR), May 1995, p.99; emphasis added).

As we begin the new year and set our goals for 2010, there perhaps is nothing more important we can do then to resolve to fall in love again with the scriptures.   Each of us would bless our lives to set the resolution of daily scripture study–a daily date with the word of God. Here are a few practical tips to maximizing our scripture study so that it can become something we fall in love with and can’t wait to be with each day:

Schedule a consistent time: We are creatures of habit.  If we simply try to “squeeze in” our scripture study when we have a few spare minutes, then we usually squeeze it out altogether.  It is better to set a specific time each day when we study and stick to that time, such as early in the morning when we eat breakfast, or at night just before we go to bed. Elder David A. Bednar said: “My experience suggests that a specific and scheduled time set aside each day and, as much as possible, a particular place for study greatly increase the effectiveness of our searching through the scriptures” (Elder David A. Bednar, “Understanding the importance of scripture study,” http://byui.edu/presentations). Treat your scripture study like a date you plan to pick up at the same time each day.

Study for TIME, not length: Often when we are trying to “get through” a certain number of pages or chapters, that is all we do–get through it.  But we don’t get much out of it.  Ever had the experience of reading an entire chapter and when you get done you can’t really remember anything it said? We have too.  This is usually because we were “reading” the scriptures, not “studying” them. President Howard W. Hunter said: “There are some who read to a schedule of a number of pages or a set number of chapters each day or week. This may be perfectly justifiable and may be enjoyable if one is reading for pleasure, but it does not constitute meaningful study. It is better to have a set amount of time to give scriptural study each day than to have a set amount of chapters to read. Sometimes we find that the study of a single verse will occupy the whole time (Ensign, Nov. 1979, p. 64).

Have a private place to study where it can be quiet and you won’t be bothered. Elder Ballard said, “If possible, set a consistent time and place to study when you can be alone and undisturbed” (Elder M. Russell Ballard, “Be Strong in the Lord in the Power of the Lord” http://speeches.byu.edu).  This is why often scripture study early in the morning or late at night is best because it is quiet and we can be alone with the words of the Lord and the quiet whisperings of the Spirit.

Study at a desk or table: Although this might not sound as cozy as curling up in your soft bed with your scriptures, the problem with being really cozy is that it usually leads to only studying Lehi’s dream (zzzzzzzzzzzz……..).  If we sit up at a desk or table, we are more prone to “study,” we can write/take notes/mark more easily, and aren’t quite as susceptible to nodding off.   The missionary guide Preach My Gospel says, “Study at a desk or table where you can write (not lying down or sitting on your bed), organize your study materials, and remain alert” (Preach My Gospel, p. 22).

Write while we study: There are over fifty places in the scriptures where the Lord has commanded his children to write his words. For example, the Lord said, “I command all men…[to] write the words which I speak unto them” (2 Nephi 29:11).  We’ve found that when we study the scriptures with paper and pen in hand we receive direction and revelation more easily. Perhaps having a piece of paper and a pen ready sends a signal to the Lord that we expect to learn things worth being written down. Another form of writing as we learn is simply by marking our scriptures and writing impressions or appropriate thoughts in the margins of the scriptures.  Elder Richard G. Scott said, “[C]ommit to apply this principle:  I will seek to learn by what I hear, see, and feel.  I will write down the things I learn and I will do them….it is through the repeated process of feeling impressions, recording them, and obeying them that one learns to depend on the direction of the Spirit.”  (“Helping others to be spiritually led”, Address to Religious Educators, 11^th August 1998, p.1,3)

Ask questions and be ready to act/obey: Many of Joseph Smith’s revelations were the direct result of going to the scriptures with questions.  If we go into the scriptures with questions on our mind, we more easily find direction. President Henry B. Eyring said, “You will be taught more easily as you approach the scriptures if you search with a question and with a determination to act on the answer. We can receive what seems to us new truth when we go back to the same scripture with new questions” (Ensign, Jan. 2002, 32).

We hope that these suggestions will help us all fall deeper in love with the scriptures this year.  If you have not set the goal to have daily scripture study, we would invite you to do so right now.  We testify that through a continual study of the word of God, we can be more easily led by the Spirit, we can hear God’s voice speak to us,  we can receive answers and direction to the questions and problems in our individual lives, e will gain knowledge of God’s purposes and plan, and we will find greater power to resist temptation (see 1 Nephi 15:24).  That sounds like a great thing to have a love affair with in 2010.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 6:17 pm and is filed under Scripture Study. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.