Imagine visiting a city in a foreign country without having taken the time to learn anything about its history, traditions, laws, customs, attractions worth seeing, places to avoid. You’d probably stumble into some enjoyable experiences and real “Kodak moments,” but you’d probably also get lost, perhaps even get into trouble, and most likely leave disappointed and wondering what you missed.
Now, imagine living without studying the Scriptures, without opening the Bible and preparing yourself for life’s journey. Odds are you’d have some wonderful and meaningful experiences, but you’d also spend a lot of time lost, confused and struggling without direction or understanding.
The Bible is God’s “guide book” for our lives. The old children’s song says “the Bible is a story book,” and that is true, but in those stories we learn how God loves and works with God’s people and how we are to love and live with each other. The Bible teaches us about love, wisdom, worship, faith and ultimately God’s authority.
The Bible itself – in the Old and the New Testament, in the words of the prophets, psalmists, Christ, the disciples and apostles – explains why we are to study God’s word, including:
• 1 Peter 2:2. “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.” Just as a baby can’t grow without nourishment, neither can Christians grow without spiritual nourishment, and the Bible is the best source for that.
• John 14:15. “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” God’s commandments for how we should live are in the Bible.
Other reasons for study include:
• To discern God’s will.
• To avoid error and false teaching.
• To teach and witness to others.
• As an expression of love for God and his word.
It’s easy in a church with wonderful preaching, well-prepared Sunday School teachers and other forums to become lazy about scriptural study. It’s easy to sit back and listen to what others have studied, think about it and even join in the discussion, and consider ourselves well-studied too.
But Christ has called each of us to a personal relationship, and while listening and participating in group study is great, we should never let that take the place of a personal quest for wisdom.
Some may find the Bible intimidating. After all, it is massive. It’s full of ancient history, difficult words and grammar, concepts that are complicated and often difficult to understand, and quite often, messages that are convicting. But the same God who created us has given each of us the capacity to understand Scripture in a meaningful way.
The Bible is relevant on so many different levels – all the levels at which individuals think and live – and there is meaning for everyone at every stage of our lives. What’s more, a passage read and studied yesterday may have a whole new meaning for us at a later date as our faith matures and as we experience more.
As with any kind of study, Bible study is enhanced with the comments of others. Their insights and opinions provide a counterpoint and help us form our own thoughts, which may be similar or completely different.
As Scottish theologian Oswald Chambers said: “Always make it a practice to stir your own mind thoroughly to think through what you have easily believed. Your position is not really yours until you make it yours through suffering and study. The author or speaker from whom you learn the most is not the one who teaches you something you didn’t know before, but the one who helps you take a truth with which you have quietly struggled, give it expression and speak it clearly and boldly.”
With the resources available today, nobody can say they can’t study because they can’t find information. Go to your Internet browser and type the words “Scripture study” or “Bible study,” and you’ll find plenty of websites that offer on-line Bibles in every possible translation, verse-by-verse expositions, ready-made studies on entire books, even chat rooms for Bible study groups.
Don’t have a computer? Most church libraries have resources, as do public libraries and bookstores. There also are numerous resources and guides for how to study the Scriptures, and that may be a good place to start – to get organized.
We all learn in our own unique ways, and so there is no right or wrong way to study. However, you should keep four guidelines in mind:
• Approach the Scriptures with an open mind and honest desire for truth.
• Respect the Bible as the inspired word of God.
• Believe the Bible can be understood and has relevance in your life.
• Believe the Holy Spirit will help you understand it.
The rest is up to you. Unlike in school, scriptural study is not a practice that requires you to keep up or compete with the class. There are no tests, no grades, no graduation. Rather, scriptural study should be a lifelong pursuit of meaning that results in a meaningfully pursued life.