Journey of the Word

If I asked you to take part in an amazing discovery, you might be okay with that, right?

If I said, “We’re going to have some fun and laugh a lot,” that might sound appealing to you.

If I used words like “game,” or “puzzle,” or “party,” you’d hope to be invited {unless maybe you’re not a puzzle fan?}.

The problem comes when I use the word . . . study.

“We’re going to study . . .”

“I love to study . . .”

“You’ve invited to a study . . .”

And . . . you vanish into thin air.

Because you think “study” is difficult, slow, or boring. It’s the thing everyone’s forced to do in school and a few select weirdos choose to continue.

Who in their right mind would study if they didn’t have to?

Read? Maybe.

Study? Now that’s taking it too far.

Well, I’ve always loved to study, so count me in the weirdo crowd. I loved school. I loved studying for tests. And I really loved writing papers {hence, why I write regularly here}.

But please don’t tune me out, because I’m here to tell you: If you think of Bible study as “study” . . . don’t!

“Deadlines, homework, memorization, pressure, and plain hard work,” you say?

No, no, no . . .

This is Bible “study.”

It might take some thinking and strategy, but like any good game, Bible study is so. much. fun. Sure, you’ll have to concentrate, use careful logic, and give it all you’ve got, because you want to win this thing! That’s how games usually work. But in the meantime, there’s lots of laughter, plenty of team effort, and always a good time.

The completed puzzle will be glorious. Until then, things are missing, upside down, and all out of order. But you keep working at it! And of course, when your friends come along to help you out, they often find the piece you were looking for all along {that’s what fresh perspective will do for you}. In the end, everything fits together perfectly to form a beautiful truth that’s beyond amazing.

What does it take to have a party? More than one person. Yep, I never get very far in a Bible study with myself. But gather up a few friends, and we can sure party! One person asks a question. Another throws in a totally bizarre idea. That gets the ball rolling. We toss it back and forth, sometimes end up in a laughing fit, and always have a blast . . . learning.

Yes, in the midst of all of this, we’re learning. And this is our “study.”

None of that sitting on cold folding-chairs in an empty classroom, or enduring empty “devotionals” on a passage nobody’s read in months.

Why can’t we familiarize ourselves with the text at hand so we know what’s going on, first off?

And then maybe we can all talk about it, because interaction is the best teacher.

We’ll draw pictures, pass around some maps, connect some dots, and word-search like crazy.

We’ll ask a million questions. And find much fewer answers. And be quite okay with it.

In a few weeks, we’ll discover a thing or two that’ll make our jaws drop even though we’ve seen it hundreds of times.

We might be a little giddy about that for awhile.

We’ll wonder where the time has gone.

And suddenly, all other games, puzzles, and parties will pale in comparison.

Why?

Not because the Bible needs fancying up.

And not because we’ve concocted some fun out of nowhere so the party’s worth attending.

But because we found the Bible to be the most thrilling, fascinating, life-changing reality of all time.

And because Bible “study” doesn’t have to be “study.”

It can be discovery.

Answers.

Fellowship.

True joy.

The kind of fun a game, puzzle, or party may bring.

Only better.

 [image credit: pixabay.com, pixabay.com, pixabaycom, & journeyoftheword.com]