It's been a super long time since I accepted Christ as my Saviour;
And I feel like I am still lacking of something in my life...
Something very essential and crucial with my connection with Christ Jesus....
And the connection is - a pure understanding of 'Bible Study...'
As a Christian, bible study play a huge part in our faith because it is one of the strongest disciplines in Christianity. Or we can general call it 'a personal reflection/ quiet time.
The bible is a book that draw us closer to God by reading His Words and ask Him about everyday life question from a mini how-to responses to gigantic issue like relationship, family, work, life issues and etc. I personally refer the bible to my daily life 'manual book'. It is exactly like buying a product from a shop that it came with a manual book on how to use the item and how to care for it and etc. So the bible is exactly to a manual book except that we are the object and we need to constantly look into it to know how to deal with ourselves the right way.
I find that owning the bible is just a 10% of getting to know God because the truth is: anybody can own the bible. Even the non-believers might one day obtain the bible and put in their house and act like they are just as Holy as every other Christians in the world.
Reading the bible is only about 40% to connect with God. It does sounds like a pain; but the truth to be told. Those who knows how to read are mostly and generally reading it for fun. They merely treat it like a bedtime story. And while it is not wrong to read the bible and sleep on it - which is what I sometimes do myself... but that's not what a real Christian would do to complete a real bible study course.
Bible Study, on the other hand, is a whole new level of reading the bible. Every verse in it is so different from the other. You see different footnotes at the bottom - they all link to the other verses and etc. And each verse connect to your daily life. You don't just read it; you question what you read right to the core. You know the famous 'Wh-' questions that you learn in school? That's when you start using it in the bible. And that is what made it so interesting; because then everyday when you have something in your mind, you see a verse that reflects to your thoughts. Sometimes, you may find yourself looking at the same verse of the past but it, surprisingly, now refers to something else - which is your current situation and no longer the former that you once had! That's what make bible study so unique and compelling.
I used to read the bible as a way of flip pages around and then only look at it again when I go to church for services but hardly ever remember what I actually read at the end of it! It's like, God has been talking to the wall all day long even though I was actually sitting in front of Him for hours! How typical is that?
Then for quite some time, something came into my heart.... "Read the bible and really start memorising word by word of it. Pin it right into your head and actually put it into your daily life." So I did just as that.
You see, God knows my strongest point when it comes to academic success. I am excellent at memorising whatever I read to the point that I can reproduce every word perfectly! That's why memorisation is the best method for me to kick start into bible study realm. I begin memorising popular verses and then, gradually, into more personal ones.
However, memorising is just a wee bit of bible study. So the next step is to actually understand what I memorise. You see, God didn't create me to be a parrot. He did not ask me to turn myself into a copier-machine. He created me to be a unique human being that represent Him in this earthly world.
So, when I finally memorised whatever verses that deemed necessary to my condition, I am to reflect and ask myself: "What is God trying to tell me in this verse?" and etc... I have to be completely honest with it because this personal Q&A is actually to assess myself from the inside out and to make sure that I am really walking in God's light. With the Q&A, I can look into how to improve myself so that whatever mistakes that I made in past is out of the way for good.
Then the next step is application: I begin to apply God's words into my life. Whatever I have memorised including all my understanding based on the personal Q&As, I modified it to fit into my life so that I can finally represent the model image of God. Someone who is completely and faithfully follow the Lord Jesus Christ, her Saviour.
For example: Impatient-ness is my worst point in life; and this has gotten onto my nerves for a long time and gradually onto my loved ones' nerves as well. I think if there is one thing that people are completely annoyed about me is that I have very little patient and it actually drives everyone crazy! It has been so horrible to the point that it actually ruined some of my best relationship with the people that I truly care about. That's why I knew that something has to be done; and someone has got to tell me HOW to stop it! I mean, this is really crisis! If I continue to be impatient, sooner or later, I will lose all my friends and I will die of heart-attack. That is really a wake-up call! Therefore I knew that I must turn to God there and then to change my life wholeheartedly!
You see, I have been praying for years since I have become a Christian at the age of 9. But I still have no clue about how to solve my own weaknesses. And that is just so annoying because; as a Christian, we are literally an advertisement for God. We are to represent Him and to attract people to Him. That's why we are here on earth to preach the gospel. But if we keep flashing our weaknesses while trying to preach the gospel, then people are not going to like it and they will not want to have anything to do with us and so why do they want to get to know God then? And we have become a full embarrassment to His Name! God will not punish us but He will be so disappointed that we display such bad attitude! We should be connecting people to Him but now we have ruined Him because we gave people the wrong image of God hence we have ruined His Name because He is not the way we are... He is different from us. He is perfect. But He needs us to represent Him as His model image, therefore, we need to be careful to walk in His path so that people will want to be like us and they want to get to know Christ - through us!! And therefore I realised that I was really in a wrong path with all my foolish mistakes and I need to do something to correct myself. That is when I heard the voice said: "Read the bible. Memorised those verses. Pin it in your head and heart. Remember it and act accordingly. You will do good."
Now that I have been on a constant bible study mode, I find my life improved tremendously.. I didn't know how easy it was until I really do it. It is just so amazing. I have been memorising bible verses nonstop since then; and then critically question every one of them back and forth. Whenever I have problems in life, one of those relevant verses will automatically pop-out and I realised that I needed to use it as a tool to that current situation. It was just so good that I can say that my life has completely change for the better.
If anyone need help in changing their life because life is tearing them down completely; then it is high time they really start looking into studying the bible diligently like myself. I have done it and it has completely turn me around.
Please note: Bible study does not turn my situation around; but it has turned ME around; because I am the one that need to change MYSELF. You know what they say? 90% is based on your actions and reactions but 10% is based on your circumstances. So, 90% is the majority and it should easily overcome the 10% of it if you, who is the 90% of it, knows how to behave, act and react upon the situation correctly. That's why it is so important to study the bible and to diligently apply it into our life; because the bible will teach us how to behave so that we can develop the model image of God.
That's why I am now on a run with bible study and I feel so good about it. It has become my favourite past-time and the best way to get closer to God on a whole new level. In fact, it has (gradually) change myself and my life. Now, I can be sure that I am on the right track to my life destination.
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