By Mike Davis

There was a popular game show on television called “Concentration.” The host I remember was Hugh Downs, although several other men hosted the show through the years. Contestants would choose a number between one and thirty, behind which was a prize. If the prizes matched, you won the prize. The player matching the most squares won. The trick was to concentrate on remembering which number square matched another numbered square. And you were not allowed to take notes! We had a home version of the game and the most important rule was, no cheating – you had to concentrate – no notes!

One of my teachers in school used this method to help us learn. She posted a chart on the board with often more than thirty squares, behind which had dates and places and/or names and events that had to match. We weren’t allowed to use our books, and no notes – we had to concentrate! It wasn’t easy, but was rather fun, and to be sure, we learned from by concentrating on what we had both learned from the book and remembered from concentrating on the numbers chosen!

Many brethren have difficulty concentrating on God’s Word as they endeavor to read and study. Frankly, reading abilities differ with everyone. Subject matter, vision problems, distractions of various types all contribute to minimal concentration when reading. Further, many simply don’t comprehend the language or the words and thus struggle with the meaning and lose their concentration of the subject at hand.

While we should never minimize the study of God’s Word by thinking it is “just a game,” we should always find it enjoyable! We own two or three “Bible Trivia” games that even when not played as a game, become great quizzes to challenge our memories and generate more concentration upon God’s Word. But even with this game, no one can win, or for that matter, even answer the questions, without having read and studied God’s Word! Without knowledge of what God’s Word says in the first place, how can anyone concentrate enough to find the answers!

It’s not so strange that every aspect of our knowledge comes back to that single most important duty: READ. If correct, the concordance lists some twenty-six passages in the New Testament with the word “read” appearing. Of those times, most are “past tense” but at least six are “present tense” including Ephesians 3:4. Three times we find the word “reading” (active present) including 1 Timothy 4:13: “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” There simply is no other way to learn, and with learning, we find the necessity to concentrate, i.e. study to learn!

While there are hundreds of ways to study, you must remember studying God’s Word isn’t a game … you’re allowed (in fact, most of us would encourage it) to take notes! I have in my files, the notes of a very diligent student of God’s Word who literally wrote every passage of scripture word for word, and following each verse, he jotted down a few notes of his own in explanation. This proved tremendously helpful to him as he combined related subjects and texts, and by writing them by hand, it involved no less than four activities that helped him remember: sight, hearing and speaking (he read aloud) and recording his words by writing! Yes, it took a great deal of time, but by CONCENTRATING during his study, he learned God’s Word well!

Nothing in all existence is of greater importance than the knowledge and understanding of God’s Word … nothing! It alone is God’s power to salvation (Romans 1:16), and the only way we learn it is to read it (or have it read to us) so we can concentrate/LEARN what it means and obey that saving truth! If that means you find a quiet place and an undisturbed hour or more in which to read, study, learn, CONCENTRATE, then find that time and place! If it means you stop using the computer, watching television, going to sporting events or other social activities, then so be it! If it means a few hours without sleep, eating or family time, so be it! There is simply NOTHING of greater value than to CONCENTRATE in learning what God has done, continues doing, and promises to do for the obedient soul! But before any of that is profitable to you, you must devote the time to reading, studying, learning and obeying God’s Word in order to become His child! That requires CONCENTRATION!

In our present world, the majority treat God’s Word with minimal respect at best! They not only scoff at it, they ridicule it with shameful attitudes, completely denying its Author, authority and power! Therefore, it’s not a popular thing to CONCENTRATE on God’s Word. Don’t let that bother you … if you want to dwell eternally with God in heaven, devoting yourself to CONCENTRATION upon His Word is your delight (Psalms 1; 1 Timothy 4: 13 – 16.) No one will ever learn “too much” of God’s Word; neither will one ever CONCENTRATE too much on its truth!

Some years ago, a preacher announced he was going to give a test to the students in his bible class. They were adults! One of those students literally said, “If you give that test, I’ll never come back. I’m here to learn; not be tested!” He was emphatic in his statement. The preacher said nothing until the next study when he asked simply, “Here’s your test. Tell me what you read and studied and LEARNED from the week’s assignment.” No one answered. And the emphatic man … apologized! Are we concentrating on God’s Word?