I Already Know This Stuff

I’m about half way through Berni Dymet’s book Unlocking the Power of Prayer. It’s not a difficult read and most of the time, instead of learning something new, I’m just nodding my head in agreement. It’s stuff I already know.

So why would I waste good reading time on stuff I already know? I wouldn’t and I won’t. That is to say that it’s not a waste of my time. It’s a valuable reinforcement of things that I know but I need to be reminded to put into practice.

Do you ever find yourself reading stuff that you already know? Are you tempted to simply skip large sections and get on with learning something new?

One of the things I’ve appreciated so far in reading Berni’s book is that when he quotes scripture he gives a warning not to skip reading the full passage. He knows that he’s quoting well known stories and that the reader will be tempted to just move ahead but he asks us to take the time to read through what we already ‘know’. He understands that we can become so familiar with a passage that we no longer handle it with enough care. We no longer expect God to speak to us from those particular pages because we’ve been over that stuff too many times already.

Slow Down

Maybe I can join Berni in encouraging you to slow down and spend time on the things you already know. There is so much value in revisiting basic truths and meditating on what they mean for us. Sometimes we need to spend a little bit of time relearning things we’ve let slip over the years.

I’d love to hear about the things that you’ve seen with new eyes years down the track of life. Are there areas of your life that have become stale? Do you need to return to things you thought you learnt years ago?

Berni Dymet

As for Berni Dymet, he’s the Director of Christianity Works in Australia. He has a passion for helping people to connect with God amidst the realities of life. He has an ability to communicate deep, life changing truths in a way that makes sense.

I spoke to him on 98.5 Sonshine FM many months back about his book. You can hear our conversation by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

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