DRAWING

NEAR

John F.

MacArthur, Jr.

Today’s Reading

C R O S S W A Y B O O K S

A DIVISION OF GOOD NEWS PUBLISHERS

WHEATON, ILLINOIS • NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND

Drawing Near.

Copyright 1993 by John F. MacArthur, Jr.

Published by Crossway Books

a division of Good News Publishers

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

Cover photo: Dick Dietrich

Case design: Jennifer Kok

Art Direction / Design: Mark Schramm

All Scripture quotations in this book, except those noted otherwise, are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, and 1977 by The Lockman Foundation, and are used by permission.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

MacArthur, John, 1939

Drawing near / John F. MacArthur, Jr.

p. cm.

1. Devotional calendars. 2. Christian life-1960- I. Title.

BV4811.M23 1993 242’-dc20 93–5469

ISBN 0-89107-758-8

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN 1 85684 081 6

Production and Printing in the United States of America for CROSSWAY BOOKS Norton Street, Nottingham, England NG7 3HR

To Dick Mayhue—

his friendship, loyalty, and ongoing leadership of

The Master’s Seminary have been a tool of the Lord

to do exceeding abundantly above

all I could ask or think

Introduction

Throughout the years of my ministry, I can’t count the number of times people have asked me about Bible study. How to do it, when to do it, and why to do it are a few of the basic questions. While those are important, you can’t get past the simple fact that you must do it. Your life as a Christian depends on it.

Real growth in your spiritual life takes place only by daily exposure to God’s Word. The Apostle Peter put it this way: “Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2). I find that the longer, the more intensely, and the more devotedly I look into the glory of Jesus Christ through the pages of Scripture, the more the Spirit of God changes my life into the image of Christ. But there are no shortcuts. If you and I are to grow, to mature, and to finally be transformed, we must feed on the Word!

Unfortunately, our entertainment-conscious, quick-fix, fast-food society does everything it can to divert us from setting aside time to study God’s Word. As you well know from your own efforts, Bible study is not often entertaining—it’s hard work. It takes discipline to set aside time each day to reap the benefits such study has to offer.

If you reach an ...