Pick up a quick tip to get more out of your Bible study

I've taught for over twenty years and I can help you go deeper when you open up the Word.

Study Tip: Aiming

I'm sure you've heard the expression "If you aim at nothing, you're guaranteed to hit it."

With that in mind, what is your goal, your expectation, when you sit down to study?

Keeping a resolution? Checking it off your list? Getting all your "good Christian" points for the day?

I admit, most of the time when I study my goal is "get the lesson ready". I lose sight of the amazing fact that studying God's word is a live conversation with the Creator of the universe. However, I also know that taking a few minutes to begin the conversation (in prayer) before opening my Bible changes everything. If you practice this, your study time will become an intimate exchange rather than a routine lecture.

So as you sit down for your next study time, lay out all the issues on your heart – the things that kept you up the night before, the things you dread for today, decisions you have to make, encounters you expect, anything. Then watch as your Bible study begins to address those concerns. If you're a note-taker, you might keep a record of your questions and the answers God gives as a permanent testimony.

I'd love to hear from you about how God opens up His word to you.

Study Tip: Fulfilling Your Commission

By Paula Wiseman

The last couple of weeks, we've looked at the value of sharing the insights you gain from your study. Last Tuesday, we discussed our own take-aways -actions we may need to take or attitudes that may need a tweak.

These two mesh together to help us carry out that "second greatest commandment" Jesus affirms in Luke 10:27- the "love your neighbor as yourself" part. Christianity, at its core, is about relationship. God seeks us for a relationship with Him, and as a natural extension, He expects us to build relationships with others. More specifically, He expects us to love others the way He does.

Bible study can help you to carry out this directive in several ways.

First, Scripture reveals the human condition. We're all fallen and failed, and in desperate need of God's grace. It's just that some of us have accepted that gift. Focused time in God's word will root out self-righteousness and grow our compassion for those around us.

Second, Scripture describes human nature. In the Proverbs, the Gospels and the Old Testament stories, we see a cast of characters that we immediately recognize. We regularly come in contact with (or maybe we are) fools, young hotshots, innocents who can't seem to get a break, schemers, women who take on too much and countless others. God's word gives us a deeper understanding of these folks and often gives examples on how to respond to them.

Third, Scripture addresses human circumstances. Loss, poverty, frustration, sickness, anxiety, good fortune, uncertainty, triumph, tragedy and many others get their share of ink in Scripture. Regular study helps us find comfort and context for ourselves and for others.

As you study be aware of passages or principles that will help you minister to others, and so fulfill your personal great commission.

Study Tip: Takeaways

By Paula Wiseman

takeout boxes Last week, we mentioned the benefits of sharing the insights and take-aways from Bible study. Without those take-aways, Bible study isn't much better than cramming for an exam – the kind where the answers evaporate as soon as you turn in the test paper.

God intends for His word to transform us, making us more and more Christ-like.

Take-aways (aka applications) fall into two broad categories – those for our attitudes and those for our actions.

Before you study ask God for help spotting the things He wants you to work on. Then as you finish up, take a few moments to consider the take-away.

Is there a negative attitude you need to work on or a positive one that needs adopting? Or maybe there's an action- something to obey, do or even avoid. Consider what God wants you to DO with what He reveals.

I'm sorry I missed yesterday. Silly me, I thought since it was a holiday I'd take care of some little site maintenance issues. Wow- I crashed all 3 of my sites when I updated some stuff. Apparently all the pieces didn't want to play together nicely. This site and the store site are fixed. The Contingency site is being repopulated manually (that's techie for "I'm cutting and pasting all the posts back into it") and it should all be back later today, except maybe the discussion forum.

However, I do have a new spam-catcher (My spam comment catcher was the main playground bully who refused to be nice.) You can comment with your Facebook ID now, and there's one of those "type in the weird stretched out word" things. Ain't technology great?

Study Tip: Share Your Insights

By Paula Wiseman

As your Bible study is gaining steam in this new year, let me make an easy suggestion to increase its impact- share your insights.

If you're a teacher, you may do this regularly. If that's the case, try sharing with someone outside your small group.

If you're not a teacher or group leader, don't worry. Sharing doesn't have to be anything formal or intimidating. It could be as simple as one sentence over a cup of coffee. Like, "In my reading this week, something really stood out to me …"

Here are a few of the benefits-

Repeating, and reorganizing those take-aways from your study will aid your retention
Verbalizing will increase your understanding
Sharing with someone else will edify both of you
Testifying (and that's what you're doing) glorifies God and is a form of worship

Here's your chance now- Leave me a comment
What are you studying? What are you learning?

(Me- I'm reading through Genesis slowly, one episode at a time rather than a whole chapter. What I'm noticing is God's direct intervention in the lives of His people- the way He communicates with them and reaffirms His promises to them. Usually the things that catch my eye or touch my heart end up as Monday blog posts.)

Study Tip: What Interpretation Isn’t

By Paula Wiseman

For our final look (for now) at how to interpret Scripture I'm gonna split some semantic hairs.

Often times I've heard teachers or have seen study guide questions that ask what a particular passage "means" to you. Beware. While I believe the questions are asked innocently enough, there's a distinction worth making. The "meaning" doesn't change. No matter who reads it or when, God's word doesn't change.

What does change, what is personal, is how it applies to your life.

Let's look at some verses that we don't need much interpretation to understand. Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Some applications might be:

I need to give thanks more when I pray
I need to ask God to meet my needs rather than trying to do everything myself
I should quit worrying
God gives peace when I give Him my worries

Whatever I "take away" from Bible study is application, not a new interpretation.

Study Tip: Resolving Contradiction

By Paula Wiseman

The main rule for interpreting Scripture is a simple one.

Scripture never contradicts Scripture.

Period. If you run into an apparent contradiction, then examine your context clues to resolve it. Let's look at an example.

Paul says in Romans 4:5 "But to him who does not work, but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness." But then James 2:14 says, "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?" It looks like Paul says if you have works, you can't be saved, while James implies you can't be saved without them.

I won't take the time to go through all the verses here, but I encourage you to read Romans and James to what I say. However if you take a step back and read the verses in the bigger context, you'll see that Paul and James are talking about two different things even though they use the same word.

(We do this too. I could say, "He even rode his bike to work." Did I mean a bicycle or a motorcycle? Without context, there's no way to tell. However, if you'd heard the sentences before, it would be easy to tell. "He's really proud of that Harley." Vs. "He's trying to save money.")

Back to Paul and James- reading the verses in context, you find out that Paul is talking about what folks to merit salvation rather than relying on Gods grace alone. If you aren't trying to work your way to heaven, but trust solely on God, then that faith saves.

James is talking about the things we do after we're saved that give evidence of that change. (Jesus uses the idea of "fruit" for the same concept.) James' point is that faith that doesn't produce anything may not be genuine faith after all.

Have you run into seeming contradictions? What was the resolution?