The Heart of the Study

Alright, welcome to the Bible study! Below you’ll find a little on how the study will progress – God willing. Here though is a look at the heart of the study for those who are going to participate or are interested in doing so. If you would like to join in, drop me an email or leave me a comment and I’ll get back to you.

Read on!

The Heart of the Study

Knowing God and loving Him, that is what this is all about. Knowing God and loving Him and doing it as best we can - and better and better as we go on. For me, Bible study is treasure hunting. God has a treasury of truth and life in His word, amazing truths that will last for eternity and bring transformation even now. However, to get to that treasure we have to dig. That is the task He has given us, and it is the digging that we find strength and health just as the truths we find bring us closer to Him, to Love and Life Himself.

It’s such an astounding thing to read and study God’s word and have Him speak; to learn from God, from His word, and to grow in truth and love and eternal life. Jesus said, in John’s Gospel (15:1-3), “…And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” To think that just by spending some time with God, reading and studying the Scripture He has provided for us, I can come to know the Almighty God, to know Him, to find that He loves me, and to learn that I can love Him, know Him more and more without end, and even serve Him, is amazing! If anyone has ever read Ecclesiastes and resonated with it, or if you don’t know what that is but have wondered what’s the point of it all, this is, I believe, the answer to that question. I believe it body and soul; He loves me, and I love what He has said and what He has planned, and thus, I find in fact, I love Him.

As far as this study is concerned, I’m convinced that Christians being together matters. Not only that, but that Christians should be so in every way we can - to talk, to discuss, to celebrate, to praise, to mourn, to worship, to help, to love, and to learn. Is strongly believe the time of isolationist Christianity is coming to an end - if for no other reason than it’s impossible to love if you’re by yourself; and love is what I believe God has been and is going to be teaching us, and more and more as time progresses. Loving God, and loving others, and loving God with others are what this is all about. The thing is, loving can’t be done without knowing. It’s inevitable. If you start by loving, even someone you don’t know, you will end by knowing. If you start by knowing, with God, you will end up with loving, and then His love, will fill you and lead you to view others so differently, you’ll end up loving them too. And guess what, that will lead to knowing. To know God is to love Him, and to love Him is to get to know Him more and more.

That’s something that has been new life to me recently; the recognition, or remembrance that each day my focus, my goal, is simply to know God more and in doing so I will love Him. And this can be done by going to His word and by being with Him and praying. As Christians, we often pray because, “Well, I’m supposed to…it’s being spiritual!” We also often read the Bible for those reasons. It’s easy to begin to think that way, but instead, the truth is that the Bible and prayer are tools for building our relationship with God - by them we know God better. Imagine reading a love letter without thinking of the person who wrote it or responding to them. Without Him, prayer and the Bible are nothing. Without Him you may as well go read other books, and talk with other people. However, with God, they are a means to me knowing Him, and loving Him, and pleasing Him, and enjoying Him. That’s where our hearts need to be in this – focused on knowing Him. If we can keep them there, with His help, then all else follows.

As Oswald Chambers’ writing often reminds us, being a Christian isn’t about commitment to a religious viewpoint, a set of belief or doctrines, or a name, but rather a Personal Being. Being a Christian is about trusting in Christ and following Him. Never let us pursue anything if it leads us to leave behind the Person, and in all of these studies, may we only ever pursue them with His company and guidance.

G.