Dust it off and put it into action!

"obey my voice 

 according to what I command you"

Genesis 27:8

Did you ever read or hear something about what someone has done, and think "oh my gosh, that's terrible; shame on them!"  and then a minute later think start to think "oh dear, maybe I've been guilty of that myself..."

I did that today.

I'm reading a book about Harry Truman, that was written in an interesting interview-type format.  The interviewer asked about the day that FDR died, and naturally that prompted many interesting memories from Truman ~ the kind of details that only Truman might know, about a day with international impact.

Well, one of the things Truman remembered was that they were having trouble finding a Bible at the White House, on which Truman could take the oath of office.  He said there was probably more than one in the living quarters of the White House, but no one could seem to put their hands on one in the executive wing. 

Until one of the White House officials said he had one in his desk drawer.  He called his secretary, and asked her to bring it to him right away ~ and here's the part that got me ~ he told her to "be sure to dust it off."

My first reaction was to be impressed that someone at the White House would have a Bible in his desk.  My second reaction was to think how sad it was that it needed to be dusted off.  Obviously, he never used it.  And I think I probably judged him a little bit there...

But my third reaction was to feel a little convicted.  My Bible really doesn't have a chance to get dusty, literally speaking.  I take it to church at least once a week, most weeks twice.  I take it to Bible study once a week, and I use it to do my Bible homework.  So my Bible is more in danger of having pages torn than it is gathering dust. 

But I don't think I'm always using what I get out of it.  That White House official's Bible was out of sight, out of mind.  And I think that describes how I sometimes treat whatever knowledge or wisdom it has given me.  I don't give any thought to applying it to my life, or I do for a few minutes, and then I set it down and go back to who I was before I picked it up. 

There's no point in having it handy, if I'm not making good use of it. 

~ "If anyone is a hearer of the word

  and not a doer, 

 he is like a man 

observing his natural face in a mirror, 

for he observes himself, goes away 

and immediately forgets

    what kind of man he was" ~

James 1:23-24