My wife and I joined a small Bible study group, and because of that I’m doing a deep study of the scriptures for the first time in far too long. I’d forgotten just how much I enjoy it and how much you can get out of it. But it takes a lot of time. I can read Colossians in 15 minutes. I can easily spend an hour studying one paragraph. What if there were a way to split the difference? What if we just spent that 15 minutes applying some of the basic principles of Bible study to that paragraph?
I’ve been trying that. The result is seeing more than I’d ever see on a quick read through the passage. It doesn’t deliver the full benefits of a deep study, but it’s so much better than just a surface read. It’s like sitting down to a hot lunch versus a quick vending machine snack.
After some experimentation, I’ve ironed out a method. Now I’m ready to share it, to show you how you can get more out of the Bible in the amount of time you already spend in it.
When studying the Bible, sometimes noticing the smallest detail can open the passage up to you. And sometimes they reveal little gems of truth that are just casually tucked in beside the author’s main point. We hit upon one of those in our small group recently, and I thought it made an excellent meditation for Christmas.
Do you believe in Santa Claus? Of course not. But you kind of act like you do.
You've told your kids about Santa Claus. You've told stories about him. You've sang songs about him. You probably even left him cookies at one time or another.
But kids? They stay up late trying to catch sight of him. They write him letters. They change their behavior because he's watching. They believe in Santa Claus.
God plays the long game. He has plans within plans. He had our salvation planned out before the foundation of the world. As soon as Adam and Eve fell, he began telling us about it. He worked events out over the course of centuries, having Jesus born into a world perfectly shaped so that he would be put to death merely for claiming to be who he is.
We, on the other hand, are terrible at making long-term plans. My weekly meal plan doesn’t even usually survive intact. There’s a place in Mary’s Magnificat that is both a beautiful promise and a warning. It tells us that we need to get better at planning.
