READING1ST.HTML

WHO'S ON FIRST?

"Who's" on first.

"What's" on second.

And "I don't know" is on third.

Do you recall the classic Abbot and Costello routine, "Who's On First?" Abbott has become the manager of a baseball team whose players have unusual names. Costello gets totally confused when Abbott tries to tell him the players' names, because each time Costello asks "Who's on first?", Abbot answers, "Naturally." And the more confused Costello gets, the funnier the routine becomes.

Actually, one of life's most important questions is "Who's on first?" Who or what has first place in my life? How we answer that question determines the direction our lives will follow, as well as the priorities that will undergird our daily decisions. It's too late after the day is over to go back and replace those urgent (and probably unnecessary) things with the important things. We must each, individually, decide "Who's on first" in our life and tenaciously stick to putting first things first.

Urgency is noisy, bossy and demanding. It summons us to action through alarm clocks, beepers, car horns, telephones, car phones, fire alarms, burglar alarms, and sirens. The action we take to serve the urgency of our daily lives can even be used as a good excuse for not dealing with the first things in our lives. To keep first things first requires discipline, stubborn determination, character, commitment, and sacrifice. If you are not making a concentrated commitment to the first things of importance then you are inadvertently committing your life to the unimportant.

The Bible clearly states how God wants us to answer the question "Who's on first?"

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)

How can we possibly seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness without daily reading the Scriptures? Over 100 years ago, Sister Jane Roberts knew who was on first:

"The Scriptures alone in our day are to be trusted as an unerring guide; therefore, the daily reading of them is indispensable. There is no chance for those who do not read the Scriptures. The things of the present are so incessant and pressing in their claims upon our attention, that without this antidote - this rectifying power - the mind, however naturally gifted, must succumb to the power of the present considerations and present pleasures. Apart from the reading of the word, regularly and prayerfully, the . . . aspirant after eternal life will find she has undertaken an impossible task. In the Scriptures she has her pattern, her guide, her model, by which to shape her life. She will have to be very determined to get this daily help, and the effort will have to be kept up, otherwise the apparent urgency of other things will crowd it out of the programme. Let it, therefore, be a fixed rule of life with her, that come what may, she will have her daily reading of the Scriptures. Let some other matter stand on one side, if it comes to be a question of which is to be done and which left undone - the reading or something else. She will find if she acts on this principle, that what some have pronounced impossible, is not only possible, but at last delightful - the one green spot in the day. We all know how things do get put on one side when anything very important happens. Now this daily reading of the Scriptures ought to be regarded in the light of one of the most important things that could happen to mortals in our day. A message from heaven. Shall you take time to hear it? It is more likely that you will win the battle of life if you do. Ten minutes, quarter of an hour, or at the most twenty minutes, will suffice to get into your mind something that will remain with you as a power for the coming day. You will be more ready to remember what you ought to do in any circumstance of difficulty if you have listened to the Spirit's voice in this form, than if you have not. You will be better able to rule your temper during the day if you have than if you have not. You may sometimes have to lament that your opportunities for serving Christ are few. Here is one way in which you can serve him. Sit at his feet and listen. He commended Mary for doing this, when her busy, bustling sister wanted her to come and do something else. You may, by the power of his words, glorify God by your manifest subjection to his commands; and the constant reading in the Scriptures of what others have done by faith in God, will no doubt lead you to discover ways and means of service that you had not thought of."

We all start out each new year with the renewed determination to do our Bible readings every day. We have to make this happen - come what may. The times when I have had a hard time with consistent daily readings, I have used this verse to reorder my priorities:

"I have esteemed thy word more than my necessary food" (Job 23:12)

Before breakfast, I would do the first reading. Before I ate any lunch, I would do the second reading and before I had my dinner, the last reading had to be finished. This schedule quickly got me back on track. While on this schedule I saw all too clearly that I had let myself slip thinking I could read a double portion tomorrow. I would not skip a day of eating necessary food and then cram in a double portion the next day! Why did I think I could do that with spiritual food. If I try to read up several portions, I cannot well digest so large a quantity of mental food. The Scriptures must be read every day. If you don't think you have time, just skip a meal or two and take the readings. You will be better off.

Christ

(who is the Word)

is to have

"the preeminence (first place) in everything."

(Col. 1:18).

-L.C.

EACH DAY