Not the Study

There is a lot in this blog about Bible Study.  I have written multiple times about the importance of getting into the Word for yourself if you hope to impact your kids for Christ.  But through all of that you may have gotten the impression – it would be easy to do so – that the end is Bible study.  It is not.

In John 5:39 – 40, Christ is talking to some men who have studied, extensively, the Bible that they had.  He tells them they missed it.  Apparently one can know the Scripture and not know God.  So what are we getting at here?  Why this emphasis on study, if study is no guarantee of knowing God.  It is the focus, the habit, the lifestyle of interacting with God in His Word that we are after.

2 Peter 1:3 – 4 tells us that God has based His promise, His Word, on His divine nature.  In interacting with His Word we are interacting with what He has chosen to reveal about Himself.  Finishing a study so that we can put a notch in our Bible – got that one done! – is not the aim.  Rather it is a continual immersion in the intricate, infinitely personal self revelation with which He has gifted us with His Word.  In the weaving of this exquisite cloth of truth, He reveals some of Himself in every nuance of its warp and woof.  The study is not the end.  It is the intentional, continual pursuit of His glory by means of that tool.