Read, read, read the Bible

A Steward of the Secret Things is running a weblog series on 2 Timothy 2:2 and the training of beginning preachers. These words from Dr. Geoffrey Grogan on Bible reading are especially rich advice for aspiring preachers:

You should read, read, read and go on reading, and you need to start doing so straight away. A daily portion for devotional meditation is important and indispensable, but a preacher or prospective preacher needs to go way beyond this. Turn off the television and spend several hours each evening with your Bible open, and make a start TODAY. Use a good sturdy Bible, probably with a hard cover, with good marginal references, and any method - marking, taking notes, circling in red ink any marginal reference that seems particularly significant - any method at all that will impress the inspired text on your memory, your imagination and your heart. Get inside the Bible and ask God to enable you to get it inside you.

Amen.