Thursday, February 20, 2014

Highlighter

Do you highlight things in books as you read them? I never used to . . . but I do now. I'm not talking about the random novels we read for entertainment or to help us fall asleep at night. I'm wondering if you highlight or underline things in The Bible.

My memory ain't what it used to be and I need all the help I can get remembering things. Although most people only retain 10-20% of  what they read anyway so maybe I'm not so bad.

When I was in college and had to purchase books for the upcoming semester I always bough new ones. I could have rented my books I guess or even purchased used ones but I didn't. There something special about a brand new book. Clean. Fresh. Untouched.

Of course, if I had purchased used books in school, already underlined, I could have cut my studying time in half. All the important stuff would have already been underlined. That is, of course, unless the person doing the underlining was an idiot. Then I'd REALLY be in trouble! Besides, the highlighted parts would only be important in the mind of the person doing the highlighting, not me.

I use a highlighter when I read my Bible. If there is something I want to remember or if there is something that really jumps out at me, I highlight it. It's easier to find when I'm searching for verses. I can go right to the highlighter ones and don't have to skim over everything again.

And I use a rainbow of colors to do my highlighting as well. The various colors don't mean anything. I just like to see all the colors. But some people use a color code. For example, purple might be the commands of God. I don't go that in depth but it would be cool to do sometime.

I underline things too. But just the REALLY important stuff. Stuff that I have already highlighted but just want to add to the importance of a verse or two.

What would happen if we could buy pre-highlighted Bibles? Would we then find it easier to understand or remember the really important verses? Or maybe that's why Bibles come without highlights. BECAUSE IT'S ALL IMPORTANT!!!

It is important to remember those verses that have special meaning to each of us. But it is more important to remember the verses that are really important to God. Hopefully, the more we read and understand, the more verses we will have highlighted in our Bibles. And more of what is important to us will line up with what is important to God.

"18 “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes." - Deuteronomy 11:18

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