Study or Learn

Met with a guy at lunch today.  We were talking about a number of things.  He made a comment that caused a lot of things to fall into place.  He mentioned in passing that he was doing Bible study to get through the process and he was realizing that he needed to understand or learn what was really going on in the passage.  That may seem obvious but I think that he hit on a core issue with learning in general.

I am process oriented.  I equip people with process continually, especially in Bible study.  But the process is not the end it is the tool.  The end is John 5:39 – 40, to know Christ through the Scripture.  But in learning the process for a time we get focused on what we are doing, getting through the task, rather than why we are doing it.

Often I have gone through the motions of a Bible study and finished the task and have not learned anything new about my Lord.  Some of that is normal when I am learning the process.  But if it continues, then I have either lost sight of why or I am engaging in the process for the wrong reasons.

Finishing a study is not about completing all of the steps.  One of my friends asked a student at a school in Texas when he was finished with a study.  He responded that he was finished when he saw the glory of Christ in the passage.  He had it right.

We engage in study not to finish but to see Christ.