How To Study The Bible (Foundations)Sýnishorn

Great Bible Study is Transformative

Those who are willing to be vulnerable move among mysteries. – Theodore Roethke

Imagine walking into a doctor’s office because you’re feeling sick but instead of the thermometer being used the way it’s supposed to be (by placing it in your mouth, ear, or on your forehead), it is placed in your hand. Then after a few seconds, the nurse picks it up tells you your temperature looks fine. 

How would you respond? Of course it looks fine, you didn't use it the right way. 

In that setting, used in that way, the best the thermometer could do was read the temperature of the room around it. It’s not that the thermometer itself was broken or ineffective. It just wasn’t being used correctly.

In the same way, when we keep the Bible at arm’s length we miss out on the profound power, truth, and life waiting to be accessed. The Bible is one of the primary ways God chose to reveal himself to us. If we want to have, be, and do everything God intended it all starts with approaching the Bible with the right tools and intentions in place.

For my own Christian walk, these are the seven pillars of effective (and transformative) Bible study:

1. Understanding context.
2. Building a habit.
3. Practicing memorization.
4. Using the right tools.
5. Learning in community.
6. Integrating prayer.
7. Pursuing vulnerability. 

Your own walk may incorporate more, but certainly no less than these seven. They have helped me grow beyond what I thought possible and I believe they can do the same for you. 

I hope and pray that you learn to love God’s Word with a ferocious passion. And finally, that it will truly become a lamp unto your feet and a light upon your path.