Gay Marriage, Miley Cyrus, Clive Bundy, School Shootings

This article by Neal Pollard perfectly illustrates an observation I recently made to myself after going through the statistics records of my blog.  In his article, Neal observes how people seem to be more interested in his articles that deal with sensationalistic issues than they are in articles that cover more straightforward biblical topics.  I see the same phenomenon in the stats in my own blog.

Case in point:  For several months for six days out of every week I would write an article on my blog which was a “Scripture of the Day.”  I would take a biblical passage and write a few paragraphs of commentary about it, usually bringing out what other passages in the Bible said about the subject matter covered in that particular verse.  On average, this would generate about 40 hits a day, give or take 10.

Compare that to the following.  The day after President Obama was re-elected, I wrote an article about how Christians should respond to his re-election.  That article received about 1,500 hits in one day, much more than the 80 or so hits I was averaging at the time for the religious articles I had been writing.

Fast forward to this year.  In late March, I wrote a review about the movie Noah.  I posted it in the early evening on the day the movie opened, and by day’s end I received over 1,900 reads, the most in one day my blog had ever received…until the next day when the Noah article received about 3,800 hits in one day.  For the next few days the number of people reading that article per day remained at that high level.

Around the same time I wrote an article about modesty, a hot-button topic in the religious world.  That also has received hundreds of hits in one day and continues to get lots of coverage.  Add to that an article I wrote recently about the comments made by a politician about earning his way into heaven.  That received on average much more hits than the “Scripture of the Day” articles.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m grateful for each and every reader that takes time out of their busy day to read my blog.  However, noticing how few readers there are for plain, direct Bible articles as opposed to how many readers there are for the more “sensational” articles I write leads me to make a challenge to all my readers, especially the ones who want to follow God.

First, check this scripture out:

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.  In all that he does, he prospers.

Psalm 1:1-3

Here’s my challenge.  Whether it be my blog or anywhere else on the Internet, be looking first and foremost for the articles that talk directly about the Bible.  Read those first.  Ponder on them, meditate on them…especially if they talk about a verse that you’ve never read before or with which you aren’t very familiar.

After you do that, then look for the articles that give a biblical take on the hot-button issues of the day.  Read, ponder, and meditate on them too, because they hold value also.

Why am I giving you this challenge?  Because as the psalm above says, there is a lot of priceless spiritual value in daily consumption and meditation of the Bible as a whole…not just the verses in the Bible that condemn Miley Cyrus’s twerking.  You’ll be amazed at how stronger you’ll grow spiritually if you broaden your horizons concerning the Bible and reach out to learn more about Scripture as a whole.  Trust me on this.