God has given us the holy scriptures to help us and our families prepare for eternal life.
George Albert Smith consistently affirmed his love of the scriptures and his desire that we spend more time with them:
(The scriptures are) the greatest library to be found in all the world. What does it contain? It contains what your Gather and mine has thought of enough importance to preserve and give to the children of men and make accessible in many languages of the World. These scriptures are all important and should be understood by the Latter-day Saints. I am not going to ask you to hold up your hands to ascertain how many here assembled have ever read these books, but I desire to call your attention to the fact that these are precious truths, and they contain the real word of the Lord printed and published to the world for the purpose of preparing his children for a place in the celestial kingdom. That is why I say they are so valuable. ..How thankful we ought to be that we live in a day and age when we can read his advice and counsel and have things explained that otherwise might be obscure and uncertain to us.
Brethren and sisters, I desire to emphasize again the teaching of the Master: "search the scriptures;" read them prayerfully and faithfully, teach them in your homes; call your families around you and inspire in them a faith in the living God, by reading those things that have been revealed. They are the most precious of all the libraries in all the world.
Once, while traveling by train, President Smith started a conversation with a man who was raised in a Latter-day Saint family but was no longer participating in the Church. "As we visited," he later said, "I talked to him about the gospel of Jesus Christ. ...And he said as we discussed the principles of the gospel, 'These things interest me.' We visited quite a long time, and when we finished, that good man, I believe he was a good man, said to me, 'I would give all that I possess to have the assurance that you have. ...'
"I said, 'My brother, you don't have to give all that you possess to have that assurance. All you have to do is to search the scriptures prayerfully. Go where they may be explained to you. Seek the truth, and the beauty of the truth will appeal to you, and ... you can know as I know that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith is a prophet of the Living God.
How did you come to know that the scripture are true?
What experiences with the scriptures have you had recently that have strengthened your testimony?
Pondering the scriptures can increase our joy and delight in the scriptures and bring us closer to the Savior. The Holy Ghost inspired those who wrote the scriptures.
President Harold B. Lee recommended a daily reading of the scriptures when he said, "If we're not reading the scriptures daily, our testimonies are growing thinner, our spirituality isn't increasing in depth"
There are many ways to study the scriptures, such as reading fifteen minutes a day or a chapter very day. Some people read a few verses and then think, ponder, and pray about those verse. Some study the scriptures by picking one topic and reading from all of the scriptures about that topic. Whatever method awe use, however, it is important to read at least something in the scriptures every day, even if it is only a verse or two. It doesn't matter how we do it, it is just making the time to do it.
I hope we can all be more diligent in reading the scriptures to keep us on the right path. The ward has challenged us to read the book of Mormon with our youth. I hope we will take it seriously.
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