The medium isn’t the problem, discipline is

One of the things I both love and hate about travelling is having my routine thrown off. I’ve got a fairly comfortable routine for life at home, one that I’m generally happy with… But sometimes you have to be away from your normal routine to figure out problems.

For me, it’s a Bible problem. Specifically, reading it methodically and intentionally. 

I read a LOT these days on my iPad, including my Bible. I tend to be pretty focused when I’m reading a book in my Kindle app or in iBooks, and can be quite focused when reading from a Bible app. But sometimes distractions get the better of me and before I know it, I’ve spent more time doing a crossword than actually focusing on God’s Word.

That’s kind of a problem, don’t you think?

Whenever I’m away from the Scriptures too long, it’s easy to see a difference in my demeanor, my thinking and my reactions to difficulties and stress. Although I might be getting a great deal of insight out of a number of other books, I’m not getting the essentials I need straight from the source. Eventually, as a result, the soul begins to starve. A starving soul can’t focus on the right things—it can only focus on survival.

So what causes this in me? It’s tempting to focus on the tools—to blame a tablet for a lack of good time with the Bible. But the problem isn’t the medium. It’s not because I’m reading on a tablet.

It’s because I allow myself to be undisciplined.

And although the source of the problem isn’t the medium, a change can help. Increasingly I’m finding I actually need to have a physical Bible in my hands when I’m trying to study God’s Word. Sometime I can mark up and occasionally hit myself with whenever I’m getting distracted. 🙂

I love using my iPad for tons of stuff—I use it all the time and for the remainder of my time away from home, I’m going to keep plugging away and using it for my regular Bible reading. But when I get home, I think I’ll be pulling out one of our physical copies.