Christian preaching on study emphasizes the importance of diligent and persistent effort in gaining true knowledge and wisdom, reflecting the discipline necessary for spiritual growth and service (Proverbs 1:5; 2 Timothy 2:15). Illustrations often use images of labor, perseverance, and the value of preparation to convey that study is essential to avoid life's pitfalls and to serve God effectively.
Diligent study prevents life's burdens and weariness, benefiting oneself and others.
If you devote your time to study, you will avoid all the irksomeness of this life; nor will you long for the approach of night, being tired of the day; nor will you be a burden to yourself, nor your society insupportable to others. Seneca.
There is no shortcut to true knowledge; success requires hard, persistent effort.
King Ptolemy Lagus asked Euclid, "if there was not a shorter and easier way to the knowledge of geometry than he had laid down in his 'Elements.'" He answered, "There is no royal road to geometry." Nor is there a royal road to any study, — to achievement or success anywhere. It is by the old plebeian path of rugged toil that men reach the heights of attainment and the temple of fame.
Superficial Bible reading without understanding is like hoeing corn badly to cover ground quickly.
I used at one time to read so many chapters of the Bible a day, and if I did not get through my usual quantity, I thought I was getting cold and backsliding. But, mind you, if a man had asked me two hours afterward what I had read, I could not tell him; I had forgotten it nearly all.
When I was a boy I used, among other things, to hoe corn on a farm; and I used to hoe it so badly, in order to get over so much ground, that at night I had to put down a stick in the ground, so as to know next morning where I had left off.
That was somewhat in the same fashion as running through so many chapters every day. A man will say, “Wife, did I read that chapter?”
“Well,” says she, “I don’t remember.”
And neither of them can recollect. And perhaps he reads the same chapter over and over again; and they call that “studying the Bible.” I do not think there is a book in the world we neglect so much as the Bible.
Study the Bible diligently as if searching for something valuable.
We must study the Bible thoroughly, and hunt it through, as it were, for some great truth.
If a friend were to see me searching about a building, and were to come up, and say, “Moody, what are you looking for? Have you lost something?” and I were to say, “No, I haven’t lost anything; I’m not looking for anything particular,” I fancy he would just let me go on by myself, and think me very foolish. But if I were to say, “Yes, I have lost a dollar,” why, then, I might expect him to help me to find it.
Read the Bible, my friends, as if you were seeking for something of value. It is a good deal better to take a single chapter, and spend a month on it, than to read the Bible at random for a month.
"Let us not say, Every man is the architect of his own fortune;
but let us say, Every man is the architect of his own character."
- George Dana Boardman
- _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 54.
"A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the
joke he resents."
- G. C. Lichtenberg
- _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 54.
"Character is not made in a crisis -- it is only exhibited."
- Robert Freeman
- _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 54.
"A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he
describes another's."
- Jean Paul Richter
- _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 54.
"Every man has three characters -- that which he exhibits, that
which he has, and that which he thinks he has."
- Alphonse Karr
- _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 54.
Carl Sandburg, describing Abraham Lincoln, calling him a man of
steel and velvet. On February 12, 1959, Sandburg referred to him in
these terms:
Not often in the story of mankind does a man arrive on earth who
is both steel and velvet, who is as hard as rock and soft as drifting
fog, who holds in his heart
and mind the paradox of terrible storm and peace unspeakable and
perfect. . . . While the war winds howled, he insisted that the
Mississippi was one river meant
to belong to one country. . . .
While the luck of war wavered and broke and came again, as
generals failed and campaigns were lost, he held enough forces . . .
together to raise new armies and supply them, until generals were
found who made war as victorious war has always
been made, with terror, frightfulness, destruction . . . valor and
sacrifice past words
of man to tell.
In the mixed shame and blame of the immense wrongs of two crashing
civilizations,
often with nothing to say, he said nothing, slept not at all, and on
occasions he was seen to weep in a way that made weeping appropriate,
decent, majestic.
- Charles R. Swindoll, {Leadership }(Waco, TX: Word Books,
1985) 61-62
Charles Spurgeon wrote, "A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you, and were helped by you, will remember you when forget-me-nots are withered. Carve your name on hearts, and not on marble."
Integrity is "a better long-term investment than the best Certificate of Deposit known to man!"
-- Jon Johnston, Courage: You Can Be Strong in the Face of Fear, p. 91.
"The mark of good character should not be left only on tombstones."
- Unknown
Charles Spurgeon wrote, "A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you, and were helped by you, will remember you when forget-me-nots are withered. Carve your name on hearts, and not on marble."
Integrity is "a better long-term investment than the best Certificate of Deposit known to man!"
-- Jon Johnston, Courage: You Can Be Strong in the Face of Fear, p. 91.
"The mark of good character should not be left only on tombstones."
- Unknown
Never trust a dentist...
* who wears dentures.
* who has hairy knuckles.
* whose drill is driven by a system of pulleys connected to three mice on a treadmill.
* who sends you a Christmas card and charges you for it.
* who chews tobacco and spits the juice into the sink.
* who uses the suction hose to empty your pockets.
* who is also a barber.
* who sprays his equipment with Lysol to sterilize it.
* who uses lead for fillings.
On the other hand, you can always trust a dentist...
* who has never chewed gum.
* who looks like Jack Nicholson.
* who doesn't ask you questions when your mouth's full.
* who puts you to sleep two weeks before your appointment.
* who uses a laser instead of a drill.
* who cancels your appointment to play tennis.
* who has mellow rock piped into his office instead of elevator music.
* who doesn't strap you in the chair.
-- From an article in Campus Life by Stephen Erickson.
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