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Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Quality over Quantity

In the study of Holy Scripture opt for quality, not quantity.  Choose to read one verse very carefully, over the reading of many verses and chapters.  A Russian Orthodox Psalter (Book of Psalms) includes the following story about a man who lived in the fourth century.

"Pambo, being an illiterate man, went to one of the fathers who knew letters for the purpose of being taught a psalm.  And, having heard the first verse of the thirty-ninth psalm, 'I said I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue,' he departed without staying to hear the second verse, saying, 'This one will suffice if I can learn it in deed.'  And when the father who had given him the verse reproved him because he had not seen him for the space of six months, Pambo answered that he had not yet learned in deed the verse of the psalm.  After a considerable lapse of time, being asked by one of his friends whether he had made himself master of the verse, he answered thus, 'In all of nineteen years, I have only just succeeded in accomplishing it.'"

Less is more.  Simplify your study of Scripture, and you may just find your spiritual life enriched.