Has reading become a casualty of the digital age? Really! Does anyone take the time to absorb serious written words on a page anymore? In the age of warp speed communication and the rapid spread of misinformation, does anyone read for personal growth? Will you actually read this message through?

“Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do” (Joshua 1:8 NLT).

“Verily, Verily, I Say Unto Thee, Read! Read! Read!”

White privilege?

White privilege, the reality of which is still largely denied by many of those who enjoy it, once included the privilege of reading, to the exclusion of blacks, who were mostly slaves in America. Below is a state law (North Carolina, my home state) which was typical of laws in much of the country in the antebellum (pre-civil war) era, forbidding anyone from teaching slaves to read or write:

Whereas the teaching of slaves to read and write, has a tendency to excite dis-satisfaction in their minds, and to produce insurrection and rebellion… Therefore, be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina…that any free person, who shall hereafter teach, or attempt to teach any slave within the state to read or write… or shall give or sell to…slaves any books or pamphlets, shall be liable to indictment in any court of record in this state…and upon conviction, shall, at the discretion of the court, if a white man or woman, be fined not less than one hundred dollars…or imprisoned; and if a free person of color, shall be fined, imprisoned, or whipped, at the discretion of the court. (www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/slaveprohibit.html)

Implicit in that law and the others like it, was that reading/learning stirs, empowers, and liberates the mind while the lack of reading/learning facilitates the enslaving and incarceration of the mind and body.  One of my HBCU professors in undergraduate school, Mrs. Winnie T. Robinson, used to frequently admonish us with her own home-grown “biblical” citation, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, READ! READ! READ!” Those wicked laws are not preventing us from reading now! Thank God reading is no longer an exclusive white privilege. And the most important book is still the Bible. 

The S.M.O. Principle: Speak! Meditate! Obey!

In the above text, Joshua admonished that the path to a prosperous and successful life is in reading! Reading what? God’s Word! In Joshua 1:8, he gave us a three-point homily in just one verse—two ways to read and what to do with it after you read.  1) Read aloud, 2) read silently, and 3) apply what you learn. I call that the S.M.O. Principle: Speak! Meditate! Obey!   First, speak the word! “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth.”  Second, meditate on the word.  Ponder, study, seek godly understanding of the word. “You shall meditate in it day and night.” Finally, obey the word. Follow God’s instructions contained in His word.  “Observe to do according to all that is written in it.” Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Read! Read! Read!

Focus Quote: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV).