The Secret to Reading Really, Really Well - The Wake-Up Call

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Wake-Up Call - "The Secret to Reading Really, Really Well"
Host: John David (J.D.) Walt
Episode Date: January 23, 2026

Main Theme

This episode explores the concept of "reading really, really well," focusing especially on Scripture. J.D. Walt challenges the culture of rapid, surface-level intake of information and advocates for a slow, deep, and transformative approach to reading, particularly the Bible. Listeners are encouraged to build a lifelong, abiding relationship with specific texts and allow those words to deeply shape their understanding and spiritual life.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Spiritual Wake-Up and Consecration

The episode opens with a call to wake up spiritually, aligning the heart and mind with Jesus for the day.
Key invocation: “Wake up sleeper. Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.”
Walt frames the Christian journey in three stages, inspired by Ephesians 5:14:
- Consecration: “Jesus, I belong to you.” (02:05)
- Transformation: The impossible work of “rising from the dead”—it’s something Jesus does in us, not by our own striving.
- Demonstration: Letting Christ shine through us as vessels of his glory.
Memorable insight: “If it feels too hard, it’s a sign you’re doing it wrong. How's that for relief?” (07:17)

2. The Secret to Reading Really, Really Well

Scripture Focus: Proverbs 23:12 – “Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.” (08:00)
Anecdote about French philosopher Jacques Derrida, who when asked if he read all his books, replied: “No, but I have read two of them really, really well.” (09:28)
Walt critiques the modern drive for information mastery—reading more, faster, and accumulating knowledge.
Challenge: Depth over breadth—true wisdom comes from slow, abiding reading, not superficial acquaintance.
Quote: “We read the text, but... we’ve got to get to the place where the text is reading us. That takes time.” (11:59)

3. Rethinking Our Approach to Bible Reading

While appreciating yearly Bible reading plans and broad overviews, Walt’s passion is for long, lingering engagement with smaller portions of Scripture.
Advocates for “reading and ruminating and rememberizing... realizing there’s so much here.” (15:33)
Suggestion: Consider making one verse or short passage a spiritual “home,” revisiting it continually (“I got a home in John 15… I’m rich. I’ve got multiple homes in the Bible. And you can too.”) (14:13)
Example: Walt’s personal journey with John 15:1-17, reading it daily for years.

4. Journal Prompts and Listener Engagement

Prompts for reflection:
- What do you think of reading fewer things, but really, really well?
- What have your Bible reading habits been?
- Have you ever read a book or passage of the Bible really well, and what impact did it have? (13:54)
Encouragement to select a verse as a “new word” for the year; not just a single word, but a meaningful passage to abide with throughout the year.

5. Memorable Quotes

“Imagine one day Jesus asking you this question, ‘So, my friend, have you read every word of the entire book of the Bible?’ And what if you replied, ‘No, but I have read one verse really, really well.’ I think that would delight him. Maybe.” (12:45)
“Let the text read you.” (13:20)
"If you don't have anything else and you've got [Blessed Assurance], you got everything." (20:29)

Notable Moments & Quotes with Timestamps

Opening Consecration Prayer: (02:05)
- "Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you..."
On Consecration, Transformation, Demonstration: (03:25-04:30)
- "Consecration, transformation, demonstration. It's like wake up, grow up, light up... Jesus does the demonstrating."
Derrida Library Anecdote: (09:28)
- "Have you read all these books? ...No, but I have read two of them really, really well."
On Slow Reading: (11:59)
- "We read the text, but it... we’ve got to get to the place where the text is reading us."
Personal Example (John 15): (15:33-16:12)
- "I just started going over it every day... reading and ruminating and rememberizing and researching and rehearsing..."
Metaphor of Biblical 'Homes': (14:13)
- "They're like homes... I got a home in John 15. I got a home in Philippians 2... a lot of you do."
Blessed Assurance Hymn: (17:51-20:16)
- Community singing, capturing the warm, familial spirit of the podcast.

Important Segments with Timestamps

Wake-Up & Consecration - 00:03–07:30
Scripture Reading & Main Reflection - 07:40–13:40
Journal Prompts - 13:54–15:10
Personal Story: Deep Bible Engagement - 15:33–16:12
Biblical Homes & Selecting a Verse for the Year - 16:13–17:00
“Blessed Assurance” Hymn (community singing) - 17:51–20:16

Tone and Style

Warm, conversational, slightly humorous, and very approachable—J.D. Walt’s tone invites listeners into spiritual intimacy and practical transformation. The atmosphere is family-like and communal, drawing on storytelling and relatable metaphors.

Conclusion

This episode of The Wake-Up Call invites listeners to shift from striving to receive, and from information hoarding to spiritual dwelling. Walt urges the audience to slow down, savor Scripture, and let it shape the core of one's being, suggesting that the greatest spiritual treasures are found by dwelling deeply with a few words—allowing them to read us, transform us, and become the story of our life.

For Reflection:

What might happen if you, this year, made one passage of Scripture your ‘home’?
What changes when you let the text read you?
What new “word” (passage/verse) is God inviting you to live with in 2026?

Transcript

A (0:03)

Hey, good morning. Wake up. It's me again. You feel me? Kind of just kind of lightly pushing on you like. It's time to wake up. It's time to greet the day. It's time to meet with Jesus and get ready to have one of the best days we've ever had before. It is is Friday, January 23rd, in the year of our Lord 2026. I'm John David Walt, and this is your wake up call. Right. I just kind of feel like singing it. You want to join me? Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory Rise and shine and give God glorious the glory, glory Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory Children of the Lord. That's an oldie but goodie. Well, let's jump into consecration this morning. Wake up sleeper. Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you. And we're praying in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. You know, we're not going to strive our way through this day. We're going to receive the day. We're going to receive the Lord in this day. I love how much Jesus actually talks about today. I got a text just this week from our friend Chris Tomlin, who loves the wake up calls. Been out here with us. He said, talk to me about that text. What is that text where you talk about consecration and transformation and demonstration. I said, oh, that's our theme text. That's Ephesians 5:14, which says Wake up, sleep deeper. Okay? That's consecration. Jesus, I'm waking up. I belong to you. I'm not even my own anymore. I'm yours. I'm your project. Okay? That leads to transformation, rise from the dead. We can't rise from the dead. He has to raise us from the dead. That's what he does. And he brings all of his resurrection life into us. That's transformation. We're not trying to make ourselves better. We're to trying. We're receiving his very presence in us. It's totally leveling up because he's doing it. We're participating. And Christ will shine on you. That's a demonstration. Consecration, transformation, demonstration. It's like wake up, grow up, light up. And the beautiful thing, Jesus does the demonstrating. Yeah, we're, we're playing. We're playing. We're, we're with, we're, we're with him. But he's the secret. He's the secret. He's demonstrating his goodness, his glory, his love, his power. We're the vessels. We're party to it. We're enjoying it. We're not making it happen. And that's why you go from light up to lighten up. You know what? If it feels too hard, it's a sign you're doing it wrong. How's that for relief? Well, I've already gone way over time, and we haven't even gotten our entry today, so let's jump in. Today's entry is entitled the Secret to Reading really, really well. Our text is Proverbs 23. Today we're going to focus on verse 12. Hear now the word of the Lord. Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge. The word of the Lord. Now consider this. Several years back, I watched a television documentary on the life of the late French philosopher Jacques Derrida. Derrida is a Frenchman. He's famous for his postmodern philosophical approach known as deconstructionism. I've attempted to read one of his books, and after 45 minutes of being on the same page, I decided to throw in the towel. Derrida is to my academic skill as LeBron is to my basketball prowess. At one point in the documentary, Derrida led the interviewer through a tour of his library. About the size of a gymnasium, the room rose up on all sides, covered in books, toward a cavernous ceiling. Awed at the sheer magnitude of the size of the collection, the interviewer asked the obligatory question at such a moment. So have you read all these books? Derrida Riley replied, no, but I have read two of them really, really well. I love that. After all, a philosopher is simply one who. Philo. Philo loves Sophia. Wisdom Philosophia, lover of wisdom. We live in an age where mastery of informational knowledge is prized. Overall. More is better, faster is smarter. Information is power. Who knows the most is the smartest. Today's text Read through the lens of today's information ethic will yield a completely different meaning than the wisdom writer intends. Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge. We're almost done with January, and I've already seen a number of friends and colleagues reporting out metrics on their New Year's resolutions to read so many books a month. I've engaged in that quote, my pile is bigger than your pile approach to reading before, and it can feel pretty satisfying. There's something seductive about people referring to you as being a quote well read person, I think I like Derrida's approach better. So have you read all these books? And he says no, but I have read two of them really, really well. That's how I want to be with Scripture. Reading the Bible in 90 days or 20 minutes or one year. It's fine, it's good. I'm just not sure it's the best way to apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge. We've talked about that. I, I kind of, I'm on board. I've read the Bible through and I tried it in a year. It took me two years. Okay. And I'm still working on the seedbed wake up call three year Bible reading plan. And of course I love Tara Leigh Cobble and what she's doing with the one year Bible, the Bible recap, it's brilliant. And I love the idea of just keeping that big story. It's almost like a soundtrack that's just playing, always in the background. The big sweeping story of scripture just always kind of be walking through it. It's good. But what I'm really interested in the most is a slowly paced abiding with the text, a long and lingering relationship with the words, a growing relationship with the author, and a revisiting it, the same text, day after day after day, for long seasons at a time. Letting a text see, we read the text, but it we've got to get to the place where the text is reading us. That takes time. As an example, Jesus said, my command is this. Love each other. And as I have loved you, that's John 15:12. What might it be worth to apply my heart comprehensively to this tiny bit of instruction, to open my ears fully to this word of knowledge? What if I decided I would give myself until next year to read the Gospel of John really, really well? And what if I started by writing these eight words at the top of every page of the book? From John 15. Love each Other as I have loved you. You know, the entire scope and summation of the meaning of life can be brought down even further to five of these eight words of Jesus singular command. As I have loved you. Our chief calling and highest ambition is to apply ourselves to understanding, to receiving, to appropriating, and then creatively enacting the meaning of these five words. As I have loved you. Imagine one day Jesus asking you this question, so, my friend, have you read every word of the entire book of the Bible? And what if you replied, no, but I have read one verse really really? Well, I think that would delight him. Maybe. Let's pray. Father, I do want to apply my heart to instruction and my ears to words of knowledge. I confess I am both distracted and well intentioned. I need a new way, one empowered by your spirit. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. Our journal prompts today. What do you think of this approach to reading? Perhaps fewer things. Really, really. Well, what have been your Bible reading habits and practices over the course of, say last year? Have you ever read a book of the Bible? Really, really well. And what was the impact? Will you give it a try? You know, I, I remember, I Bet it's been 25 years ago now. I just started reading John, chapter 15, verses 1 through 17. I'm the true vine, my father's the farmer, and all that follows after it. I think that's probably where this whole way of reading started for me was that text. And I just started going over it every day. That's where I started learning that whole reading and ruminating and remember izing and researching and rehearsing and just, just realizing that there's so, there's so this is like nuclear uranium. There's so much here and I've just sort of skated over the surface of so much so many times and I just started abiding with it like that.