Starving Christians?

by | Jun 8, 2014 | Bible Study

“… It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4).

It’s hard to imagine plants growing without water,  infants growing without food, or Christians growing without the word of God, but a 2012 study conducted by LifeWay Research and featured  in Christianity Today  found that only about 20% of self-identifying Christians said they read the Bible daily. A more recent Christianity Today survey found approximately the same situation.

Considering the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 4:4, the survey results are surprising;  yet they were carefully carried out and agree with other recent surveys which have also found a low level of  ”Bible engagement” among many Christians.

The LifeWay research surveyed almost 3,000 Protestant churchgoers and discovered  that while some 90 percent “desire to please and honor” God in everything they did,  only 19 percent actually read the Bible every day. This number was almost the same as the percentage of Christians who said they “rarely or never” read the Bible, leaving a full 60% of people who fell somewhere between the extremes of daily or rarely looking at God’s word.  Of these, about 25%  indicated they read the Bible a “few” times a week, 14% said they read the Bible “once a week” and another 22 % “once a month” or “a few times a month.”

Using the simple analogy of physical nutrition, as we find in Matthew 4:4, we would have to conclude that while about 20% of Christians are well nourished, the majority are actually malnourished and many are starving.  While physical malnutrition and starvation are almost always beyond the control of the individual affected, it is clear that – for whatever reason – spiritual malnutrition and even starvation are normally self chosen. 

We pray for those in various parts of the world who do not have the word of God readily available, but it is sad to think that we should perhaps also pray for the great number of those in our own society who do have the word available, but who skip spiritual meals, don’t eat for long stretches or even slowly starve. The Lifeway and Christianity Today surveys should be reminders of our ongoing need for spiritual nourishment.
Studying through BibleGateway

Studying through BibleGateway

by | Mar 10, 2014 | Bible Study, Tactical Articles

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BibleGateway.com is, of course, one of the leading Bible translation websites used to provide hyperlink scripture references on this and many other sites.  If you only use BibleGateway occasionally to look up a verse or an alternative translation, you are missing out on the use of a tremendously helpful full-fledged (and free!) Bible study tool.

If you take the time to learn a little bit about the BibleGateway site, you will find it an amazingly flexible and powerful  tool for online study.  Today, we reproduce, from our sister site,  a new article on “Effective Bible Study through BibleGateway” – which shows some of the ways in which you can use the many features of BibleGateway in productive personal Bible study. 

The Threads of Context

The Threads of Context

by | Jan 26, 2014 | Bible Study

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The English word “context” is derived from two Latin words meaning  “to weave threads” (contextus, from con ‘together’ + texere ‘to weave’) and so our word signifies that which is connected or woven together. 




Successful  understanding  of almost everything the Bible says cannot be accomplished without proper context, but context means so much more than just looking at the surrounding verses of a text. 

“The Importance of Context in Bible Study,” this week’s new article on the Strategic Understanding page, discusses four types of context which are necessary for understanding any biblical verse and gives examples for each type from both the Old and New Testaments. 

The article not only shows principles you can use immediately, but also explains several verses which readers often find difficult to understand or which they misunderstand  due to lack of context.   Check out the article and see how profitable following the threads of context can be in your own study.

“The Importance of Context in Bible Study” is the third in a series of articles planned on successful study of the word of God.  The first articles in the series, “Why We Study the Word of God” and  “Choosing a Bible Translation” are also available on the Strategic Understanding page.
The Transformation Highway

The Transformation Highway

by | Dec 22, 2013 | Bible Study, Growth

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I owe the origin of this thought to Philip Shields who recently wrote “Learning is for Transformation – not just Information.”  It’s an important idea in Christianity, and sometimes we need to remember this basic concept.  The thought grew in my mind after recently visiting a Christian website where dozens of well-researched and well-meaning articles pondered scores of technical points and minutiae of the Scriptures.  I came away impressed and better educated, yet feeling that in no way had I grown. If anything, had I been sidetracked?  So Philip’s recent article “WHY Do We Study the Word of God?” resonated with me, and we reproduce a slightly condensed version of it on our site this week as the second article in our series on Bible study.

As Philip writes, the apostle Peter stressed that we should grow in grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18), and the two go hand in hand – or should do.  Focusing on growing in grace alone can be problematic in many ways. We can end up limiting ourselves and even hurting others through misunderstandings and lack of real knowledge.  On the other hand, developing only the cerebral aspects of our religion and filling only our “encyclopedia” cells can be  even more limiting and ultimately damaging to Christian growth.   

We do need to grow in both knowledge and grace, information and transformation.  Just knowing is never enough – facts should lead to change or they are little more than Bible trivia. Paul shows this goal  clearly:  “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is …” (Romans 12:2).  Notice that the goal is to be transformed by the renewing  (not just the filling) of our minds. The changes accomplished  are more important than the memorized facts.

Simply put,  we need information and we need transformation; but if we err to one side of the road, it’s better if our wheels are more solidly on the transformation side of the highway.