Why Study It?

Your Bible Transforms What’s Ordinary Into Something Extraordinary

In a mentoring conversation with a vice president in the banking industry, who I now consider a friend, I asked him this question; are you saying that people on your team don’t want to grow? With hesitation he responded, that is not what I am saying. If that is the case, then people want to grow, but they just might not know: 1) what growing is, 2) that growth is possible, and 3) what growth looks like for them. This sounds like a problem. Keep in mind that the goal of this session was to help his team adopt a spirit of excellence. Like most leaders, we tend to assume that people don’t want to excel or improve or they become complacent and desire to only do the minimum requirements.

In the same way, people do not have a reason that they know of to read their Bible. If I were to give you an assignment that every page read and summarized, you would receive $100, then a reason for reading It is born. We must get good at creating a reason for people to read it. [To the Left] I am fluent in church life and have decades of experience and what I know is this. We have done a terrible job of getting people interested in reading the Bible. Church people have used it to discipline others. We have led lives pretending that we live by It and read It when our actions contradict Its very words. This next statement is the most important. We wear the church mask that says we read It, but our lives have no results that any other person would envy. If a person lives by God’s Word, because of His favor everyone who bumps into you should envy the results that It produces. Your Bible takes what is ordinary and transforms it into some extraordinary. It can do this in a number of ways, let me highlight three.

Study for a purpose.
What’s your “why” for studying the Bible? [To the Left. That means this might sting a little.] Everyone needs a reason to study the Bible. Can you give me one? How can you persuade a person to read the Bible when you don’t? Maybe, you have not been given a reason yourself? If your life is in a place where you don’t want to study It, that is because you have not created a why. Everybody has a “why” for the things they commit to doing. Without a why, you won’t commit.

Let’s take Nehemiah for example. It’s time for a Bible Study, which should pique your interest. Nehemiah was inspired to do something about the state of his hometown. He was committed to rebuilding the walls ^[1] so that his hometown would once again be great. The problem with Nehemiah’s why was this. Rebuilding the walls was too big of a task for who Nehemiah was. He was a cupbearer for the king. He didn’t have the skills or the resources he needed to take on a task of this magnitude. He was simply the king’s servant.

Put yourself in this story, what if you had to build a wall around the city that you live in? You don’t have riches needed. It would be different if you were the king. You would have to figure out how to raise the funds. You need to assemble the crew to know where to start, to know what is broken, and what is needed to complete the task. ^[2] You would have to do an assessment. You would have to create a project plan. By the way, that’s what Nehemiah did.

When you study your Bible, this is exactly what it gives you, the ability to become a Nehemiah in your own right. You just need to study it. You look for a purpose that you need to study. Study it with a purpose to get something done.
Study to grow.
Everyone wants to grow. Let me say in a way that makes more sense. Everyone wants more. The Bible gives you what you need to grow and studying It guarantees that more will come to your life. We study The Bible to grow. Have you ever met that person who has no complaints in life? That person is rare, and the reason is very few people study The Bible to become such a person. By the way, the answers aren’t even locked in Its pages, It is free to any and every one to read It.

The Bible says, “as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow.” ^[3] That means we have to treat studying like a baby who craves milk. You know what a baby does when he or she wants milk. He or she cries. When was the last time you cried for the words in your Bible? It is an indication that the child is hungry. When will you become hungry for God’s word? Sometimes you need to cry and scream out. In fact, for some of you reading this, you need to cry out because of that job you have. You need to cry out for your marriage. Cry out for your relationship. Maybe it’s time for us to throw a tantrum over getting more from The Bible. A baby will cry and scream until fed. You need to read and study The Bible until your situation transforms. That’s what it does. Kick and scream for a new job. Kick and scream for a better relationship. Kick and scream for the promotion. Ask God for the pages you need that will give you what you need to take your life to the next level. Study to grow.
Study to know.
Where does a person go when they want to know something? Ninety-nine times out of 100, it’s not the Bible. What if you want to know how to become a better father or mother? The go-to is some self-help book that you run across, but that puts you back in the world. Back into seeking help from the average person in most cases. If it were going to work in the world, it would have already been working. The world doesn’t work. The world doesn’t have the answers. I don’t care how many self-help books they write on parenthood when it is based on non-Bible answers, you will have non-Bible or common results.

Have you ever wondered why if the world (normal thinking) had the answers on finances, we’d all be financially fit. The problem is the world’s thinking is not working. There is no way to have better results by doing things the same way ordinary people do. Regarding finances, the Bible offers two counter cultural approaches that the common person will never consider: 1) “give and it shall be given to you ^[4],” and 2) build a lifestyle around giving at least 10% of your earnings to the things of God (become a tither) ^[6]. When you don’t know, a person’s lack of knowing simply means he or she is destroyed in the areas that he or she is ignorant. ^[5] The Bible should be the first place we go to get answers and every other resource beyond that should be an additional resource. Not the other way around. Allow me to say it another way, if you can believe or give credit to any other source, you have just confirmed that the Bible is a credible resource. It’s more reliable than any other material that has ever been written. Study the Bible to know.

For those of us who realize the value that The Bible has to offer, it is our job to share the information. Nine times out of ten, every concept that we find useful is unknown by the majority. In fact, every time we attend a church service, it is like attending a seminar in which we can use the key takeaways to take our lives to the next level. How can you encourage the people in your world to: study The Bible for a purpose, study The Bible to grow, and to study The Bible to know? It’s time for us to help others go to the next level in studying the Bible. Think of all the ways The Bible has impacted you in your life. Isn’t that content worth sharing?

For those who have yet to take an interest in what The Bible has to offer. Don’t take my word for it. This book is free. Take a moment to choose a purpose or create your own reason “why” you should try it out. Identify a growth area in your own life and use The Bible to give you insight into your selected growth area. Lastly, take a topic you wish to know that you don’t know, but use The Bible to obtain the answer. What you will soon find is that not only does It provide good, relevant information, but It has a way of taking your life to the next level unlike any other book that has ever been written.

Question: Which of these uses for studying the Bible (purpose, growth, to know) would you find most helpful and why?

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[1] Nehemiah 2:4-5 NLT‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬, Bible.com, accessed March 15, 2024, https://www.bible.com/bible/116/NEH.2.4-5.NLT
[2] Nehemiah 2:18 NLT‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬, Bible.com, accessed March 15, 2024, https://www.bible.com/bible/116/NEH.2.18.NLT
[3] I Peter 2:2 NKJV ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬, Bible.com, accessed March 15, 2024, https://www.bible.com/bible/114/1PE.2.2.NKJV
[4] Luke 6:38 KJV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬, Bible.com, accessed March 15, 2024, https://www.bible.com/bible/1/LUK.6.38.KJV
[5] Hosea 4:6 KJV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬, Bible.com, accessed March 15, 2024, https://www.bible.com/bible/1/HOS.4.6.KJV
[6] Malachi 3:10-15 NKJV‬‬, Bible.com, accessed March 15, 2024, https://www.bible.com/bible/114/MAL.3.10-15.NKJV

All Scripture references used by permission, see our Scripture copyrights.