How to get the most out of studying the Bible?

The biggest obstacle to understanding the Bible is time. The books of the Bible were written nearly 2000 years ago. Other books were written approximately 4000 years ago. This presents a huge obstacle for us to understand what was written and how to understand the Truth in our culture. I think over the years two tools have been important for me in my growth.

First, read the Bible. This may seem obvious but if you stop and think about all the tools available for us to understand the Bible we can often forget the book itself. I have caught myself preparing for a message on a particular passage and completely failing to read through the passage myself. Now in my preparation I try to avoid any commentary, online resource, or other material until I have worked through the passage on my own. I consider it one on one time with God. It is a part of my prayer life.

Second, choose your companion wisely. Reading the Bible is a conversation with God. It is his word and your thoughts integrated together into a powerful interaction of creator and creation. Any other resource (book, blog, commentary) is like inviting another person into the conversation. This conversation will influence both how you hear God and how you form your thoughts about God.

The Bible, Not What it Seems.

I had a Bible study recently and one of the guys shared with us that he is reading through the Bible and is currently in the Old Testament. He has heard a lot about the guys in the Old Testament, but never has gone through the stories one after another. He was dismayed at how bad they really were, he thought they were all suppose to be Godly men who didn't do wrong things.

It led to an awesome conversation about the nature of man and how the Bible is displaying how God can use typical men and women for his glory. There really is nobody on display in the Bible who should be exalted all that much except for God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Everyone else fails at one one point or another which is so real. We can identify with anyone in the Bible because they are just like us, a bunch of people wanting to please God, but at the same time being overcome by our pride, selfishness, and lack of ability to understand all the God is trying to do.

I appreciate the guys in my Bible study, because they remind me of what the Bible is all about.

ESV Study Bible Top 8

I have owned the ESV study Bible for about a week now and have really enjoyed several features of the new study tools. 

1. The color maps and images are amazing. It is really fascinating to see what the layout of Jerusalem was at the time of Christ, or get a picture of the details of the temple. 


2. The insightfulness of the notes has been fabulous. So far as well I have noticed the notes align themselves with the type of questions that I am asking about the text. 


3. I really enjoy the readability of the English Standard Version itself. I am going to have to be careful with telling others how great it is because in the end it is just one version of many English versions that are well written. 


4. The online feature is amazing for me on many levels that will take up the rest of the list.


5. I love being able to highlight the text and have it saved online. You get six colors to highlight the text in and then you can print it with the highlights. 


6. I love being able to download maps and images for presentations in sermons and messages. 


7. The adding notes feature is okay. It is most useful for scribbling some quick notes for later thoughts. 


8. Finally, I like the fact they are going to update their notes online as they gain better insight or find other issues that should really be addressed. 

If you would like to learn more about the ESV Study Bible, click here.