BUYING OUT TIME FOR READING AND STUDY

Develop Good Feeding Habits

To benefit fully from such "food supplies" provided at the proper time, we need to have good feeding habits. It is essential to have a regular schedule for Bible reading and personal study and to stick to it. Do you have good spiritual feeding habits and regular periods of deep personal study? Or do you just skim the surface of the material that has been carefully prepared for us, eating on the run, so to speak, or even skipping some meals altogether? Poor spiritual feeding habits have cause some to become weak in the faith-even fall away. -1 Timothy 1:19; 4:15, 16.

Some may feel that they already know the basic doctrines and that not every article presents something completely new. Therefore, systematic study and meeting attendance are unnecessary. However, the Bible shows that we need to be reminded of things already learned. (Psalm 119:95, 99; 2 Peter 3:1; Jude 5) Just as a good cook prepares the same basic ingredients in many tasty ways, the slave class provides nourishing spiritual food in a wide variety of ways. Even in articles that cover subject that have frequently been commented on before, there are finer points that we would not want to miss. The fact is that what we get out of our reading material depends to a large degree on how much time and effort we put into studying it.

Next time: Spiritual Benefits From Reading and Studying

Watchtower, 2000