If you've followed along this week, you have seen all the steps for doing a devotional study of a passage from the Bible. The techniques that you've learned are useful for any kind of Bible study, because every study should lead to some reaction to what you've studied. They help you to answer the question, "so what?" I used the word reaction instead of application, after reading about this step in Dr. Ray Lubeck's book, Read the Bible for a Change. He makes this distinction from what we usually call the application stage of study, to make the point that application is so often expressed as things to do, or outward actions to take. By using response, we enlarge the scope of the "so what?" to include inward attitudes, not just outward actions. In today's reading, for example, Jesus quotes the Old Testament a second time in verse 7, "If you had known what this means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent." He's talking about an inward attitude, that of desiring mercy, that leads to an outward behavior. Later in the chapter Jesus teaches precisely the linkage between inward attitude and outward behavior, "For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart."
With that in mind, let's review the steps in doing the study, and then look at a a simple format for recording everything during your devotional study. Later this weekend I'll post a PDF that you can print and use if you'd like. Here are the steps.
- Prepare (find a time and pray)
- Select (note initial ideas, themes, interesting verses, narrowing focus to a verse or two)
- Meditate (record what surfaces in your deep thinking on the passage)
- Respond (personal, practical, possible, provable)
- Cement (write a prayer, memorize a verse)
(Note that I've changed step four from "apply" to "respond" to reflect the thoughts at the beginning of this post.)
Based on those steps, here's a format you can use to record what happens at each step. You can use the PDF form, or just section of a piece of paper. Across the top, put a date, and the full passage you're studying. Below the date, put a check box with a label that says Prepare, as a reminder to start your study in prayer. Here's how your page might look so far:
Date: April 20, 2007 Reading: Matthew 12:
1. Prepare [ ] (check after praying)
Next, we need a space for jotting down the thoughts we come up with during the selection step, including which verse(s) to concentrate on. Under the check box, then, add step 2, "Select", perhaps with some hints about what goes in this area (see step #2 above). Leave room to write, and then add step #3, "Meditate," again with room to write, and any hints to help you out in this step. Next you need space to write your response/application -- #4, "Respond" Finally, add #5, "Cement," where you can write a prayer and the verse(s) you want to memorize. And here, instead of writing just the reference to the verse, like Matt. 12:50, write out the verse: Matt. 12:50 - "For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."
Well, this isn't complicated is it? Click on the picture on the left for a larger view of this really simple layout. The PDF file will have a few more hints and helps on it, but once you've done this kind of study a few times, you shouldn't need those helps.
Here's my study for Matthew 12.
Date: April 20, 2007. Passage: Matthew 12.
1. Prepare [ X ]
2. Select Verse: Matt. 12:46-50.
v.1-12 J. does "work" on the Sabbath - confronted by Pharisees. Another fulfillment in v. 15,16 - Is. 42:1+. J. accused of healing by power of Beelzebub. Not sure about v.33-37 - judgment by works? Big passage... come back again another time, but focus on family stuff at end. Big theme -- doing God's will?
3. Meditate
Sitting in the midst of the crowd I hear Jesus treat His family rather callously. And then He says that we can be His family. If we do the will of the Father. Was His family doing the will of the Father? Maybe not, and that's why Jesus did what He did. Shock value? Okay... I need to stay focused on Jesus' point, which He makes very clear by His actions. He wants those around Him, and me, to remember what He's saying. I can be, and am, His brother, when I do the will of the Father. I'm in the family, but do the will. As I write those words, I want to keep in mind that this isn't a conditional and temporary condition -- in a moment when I goof up, I'm not out of the family.
4. Respond
Today I want to remember that I have given my life to Jesus, as the most important step of the Father's will, and that I'm in the family. Throughout the day, I will stop for a moment, and remember who my big brother is, and see if what I'm doing right at that moment is the Father's will.
5. Cement
God, help me to remember I'm a part of your family, and as I interact with my human family today, to remember all my brothers and sisters, and aunts, and especially Jesus.
Memorize: Matthew 12:50 (NLT) "Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!"
