Hunger for the Word of God

In my first twenty years of Christian experience, I did not have a hunger for the Word of God. I went to church and heard sermons regularly and attended weekly Bible studies. I heard what other people had to say about the Scriptures but had little interest in discovering for myself. Some years I would read a chapter of Proverbs a day, but after two decades had not read the entire Bible through even once. Through devastation in my personal life, God changed my heart. ( Proverbs 5:14) He gave me a ravenous hunger for His Word that had not left me almost twenty-five years later. A mentor encouraged me to read the entire Bible over and over. This counsel I have followed in several languages and over several decades. I hope to keep doing this until I pass to the next life. I testify that there is inexhaustible treasure in His Word no matter how often or how long that we have read or studied. Currently I am reading the gospel of John in the New Testament (and 1 Kings in the Old.) Two verses stood out to me. In John 7:7 Jesus is talking with his (half) brothers and says, "The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil." Despite all the times that Jesus fed or healed or delivered people from demons, He was still hated because He did not compromise the truth. He did not "tolerate" evil. This is not Jesus meek and mild. This is the Creator of the universe rebuking His creation. In John 9 Jesus heals a blind man. The man is called to testify before the religious leaders who despise and throw him out. Afterwards Jesus finds the man and asks if he "believes in the Son of Man?" ( v.35) Upon understanding who Jesus truly is the man says, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him." It would be the height of idolatry for a Jew to worship a mere human so this statement shows that the formerly blind man received a true revelation of who Jesus is. His belief immediately produced the response of worship. It is so easy to read over these things. Does our belief in Jesus produce spontaneous worship? This morning studied 1 Peter 4:12-19, a section about the reality and rewards of suffering persecution for the sake of God, with a disciple. Many Christians around the world have experienced genuine persecution and suffering for their faith. How many North American Christians are prepared to do the same?