Tag: bible study

  • How I read the Bible

    It took me a long time to figure out a Bible reading methodology that fit me. I’ve failed at a lot of them.

    • A chapter a day keeps Adam’s Bible away
    • Read it in a year means Adam won’t read it for a year
    • Study it topical means Adam treats it like a tropical disease
    • Skip around means Adam just skips it
    • Read it in a group means Adam skips his group

    You get the idea.

    But I have found something that works for me. Something that I enjoy and gives me life.

    It doesn’t have a name and it’s not really a technique. It’s kind of a half lectio divina on slow pills. Here’s how it works.

    1. I allow myself to dwell in a passage for a while, sometimes weeks. And by passage I don’t mean a chapter… it’s usually a paragraph or a thought from the author. (1-3 paragraphs at most) I’ll fester in this passage until it sticks in my ribs and I do something about it that I actually move on. It might be a few days and it might be a month.
    2. Read it fast. Read it slow. Stare at it. Write it out. Pretty much, I keep this passage on my mind. Maybe I’ll open my Bible and read it or maybe I’ll read it in 15 different versions on Biblegateway. Sometimes I’ll print it out and stick somewhere where I’ll see it all the time. And sometimes I copy it by hand in my journal.
    3. What 1 word pops out as the most important? As I get to know the passage, typically a phrase or even a word will pop out. God illuminates this to me. When I studied Bible study methods in college I hated that they tried to make this a science. Sometimes the most important part of a passage is not the main idea of the paragraph. Sometimes it the tense of a verb. Or the personal pronouns. I find that when I do this its like putting a roast in the slow cooker. It takes time to really become important.
    4. Ask God to reveal this to me in my life. Mantra-ize it. It FREAKS evangelicals out to see that word, mantra. All I mean by that is that I make that one word/phrase important. When it pops into my head it calls me to action or helps me see the world through the lens of that passage. I’ve found it so amazing how many times God reveals that phrase to me in my day. It’s like illumination on steroids.
    God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what.

    This is what works for me. Have you found a way of reading the Bible that works for you? I’d love to hear about it.

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  • Keep it simple

    Discipleship – One of the most straight-forward concepts in Christianity. Instead of keeping it simple we turn it into a complicated mess. How hard is it? A person comes to you and wants to grow in their relationship with Jesus. Cool, tell them to find a Bible, read the book of John, and lets meet in 3 days. In the process of trying to make it easy (with a process) we make it hard.

    Bible study – Another straight-forward concept. To lead a Bible study you need a couple of people, a Bible, and maybe a notebook. Pick a starting point, any starting point, read a section and ask the text… who, what, how, when, where, and why? In the process of trying to make it easy (with tools) we make it hard.

    Community – We are hard-wired to form community in our DNA. It couldn’t get more simple than following your instincts. Share life with some friends, be open to making new friends, and take care of one anothers needs. The only thing hard about it should be the relational stuff. You don’t need a pastor to teach you how to do this, or a program at church, or anything else. You just need to do it.

    Sometimes I wonder why we make things so dang complicated?

    I know one reason: Making simple things complicated keeps people busy/employed/powerful/empowered.

    When in doubt– keep it simple. 

  • The Bible, Made Personal

    Photo by Dave Gilbert via Flickr (Creative Commons)

    Perhaps my greatest period of rapid growth in my relationship with Jesus came when I was just 17 years old.

    Each day I worked verse by verse through the pastoral epistles. I journaled questions like, “What is Paul saying?” “Who was this written to?” and “What is God saying to me through Paul?”

    One habit that began then which has carried on to this day is to personalize Scripture.

    Where it’s appropriate, I always read my name into a passage. For some reason that just makes things more real for me. It helps me realize that I’m not reading a historical document meant purely for those people at that time. By adding myself to it I see that the Holy Spirit intended much of the Bible to be recorded and miraculously transmitted through the hands of scribes for generations… for me!

    Ephesians 2:9-10:

    For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

    Ephesians 2:9-10: (for me)

    Adam, for it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith– and this is not from yourself, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that you can’t boast. For you are God’s workmanship, Adam– created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for you to do.

    When I personalize Scripture with the understanding that God meant it for me (and believers forever) I find the Holy Spirit’s of illuminating to run much deeper. I internalize it so much deeper and faster.

    This little method I started as a 17 year old helps me know that the Bible isn’t just truth, it is truth for me.