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.
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