If possible, we should buy Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible or Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible. We should also buy one of the better Bible dictionaries and a Greek text with an interlinear translation. We need these. However, we should not lose the time for reading the four chapters. We need to keep this account daily. If we do not finish the four chapters, we will lose something. Sometimes in the four chapters there may be some special terminology, such as reconciliation. There is no need to go to the dictionary right away; that will waste our time. We simply should keep the word in mind. Then at the end of the week we can go to the concordance or the dictionary to find the meaning. To gain understanding is for the long term; we cannot make it within a day. We do not need to drive ninety miles an hour; we simply should drive a few miles an hour over the long term. Eventually we will arrive at the goal, but those who try to go too fast will not advance properly.
Over the long run we will grow in life, and we will have the capacity to know more. While we are growing, our capacity will increase. All the time we will be learning something, feeding on something, and growing in what we learn and in what we feed on. Again I say, this is a matter for the long term. We must learn to read and study the word in this way. Then after a year’s time we will see the difference. We will be “cooked” on both sides adequately, properly, and in a balanced way, not like those who read the word in an unbalanced, overcooked way. I hope that the churches will be built up in such a good condition that whenever new converts come in, we can immediately help them to deal with the word in this way.
This way to deal with the word is like walking with both feet, the right and the left foot one after the other. It is not like walking only on the right foot or only on the left. If we walk properly little by little, we will walk straightly and successfully. If we learn to deal with the word in this way, just consider what kind of marvelous, wonderful Christians we will be. There is no need to go to the seminary. That is to put ourselves into the oven to be overcooked in an unbalanced way. There is no need to be in a hurry to know the word. Rather, we must know the word in a proper way.
We should train the new converts by fellowshipping with them about the proper way to deal with the word. We can tell them that starting on the following day they should eat the word, beginning, for example, with the Gospel of John. In addition, they should start reading three chapters of the Old Testament, beginning from Genesis 1, and one from the New Testament, beginning from Matthew 1. We can ask them to give us a report of their progress, if not monthly then at least quarterly. They should also stand in the meeting to give a testimony of how they have been feeding on the word and how they have been reading. They can tell people what chapters they have read and what chapters they have fed on. If we bring the new converts into this way, they will grow quickly.
There is no need to recommend a synopsis or exposition for the new ones. We can forget about that at first. Perhaps after half a year a few will come to say that there are many terms, phrases, and names in the Bible that they do not understand. Then we can tell them, “Do not try to understand too much. Simply read four chapters a day and feed on the Lord in the word every morning. Then understand whatever you understand.” In addition, though, we can give them Strong’s Concordance as a gift, and after another half year we can give them Young’s Concordance. In this way we will care for them gradually, just as a mother takes care of her family. Then one by one they will grow. A mother does not put all the food she has into the mouth of her small child. Rather, she gives him the proper proportion daily, and after one, two, and eventually eighteen years, he grows up. This is the right way for the church as a family, a home, to bring up the new converts. Regrettably though, after many of us were saved, we did not have a proper home and family to take care of us. If we all learn this proper way, we will lay a foundation for the proper church life. Just as a sister who is trained under her mother knows how to care for her children, we also will be able to care properly for the new ones who are brought in among us.
How poor today’s Christianity is. Almost nothing proper has been built up there. People establish seminaries and Bible colleges, and some attend them to learn a trade, a profession. However, I have no intention to criticize. My intention is that we learn the proper way to deal with the word. The way we have fellowshipped here is the proper way. All the responsible brothers and sisters who take the lead need to practice this way. On the one hand, they need to learn this, and on the other hand, they need to set up an example.
The proper way is that we first feed on the word so our spirit will be nourished. Then we study, we learn the word, that our mind may be renewed and enlightened. We are not beings who are only spirit, like the angels. We are persons with a spirit and a mind. For our spirit we need nourishment, and for our mind we need enlightenment, teaching, and education. We should not be unbalanced. We have to be balanced. In this way our mind will be enlightened day by day by learning the word, and also our spirit will be nourished day by day by feeding on the word. We need to practice these two sides.
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