The more and more I think on it the more than I like the idea of going back and forth with the daily reading. I listen to a lot of preachers and teachers and one of the suggestions I have heard on a fairly constant basis is to journal while reading the bible.
The general idea is that God made us with different learning and communication styles. With normal learning, some people tend to do better with visual, some audio, and others by doing. With love, there several ways to communicate love and different people respond differently to each one. Each one will be more or less meaningful to each person but you can’t limit yourself to just one.
My primary learning method is auditory, but if I don’t read the book then I will still fail. A truly meaningful impact is made through using several avenues. Connecting to God is the same way. Some people will connect deeper with God through music and worship. Others connect better through the visual of art and reading. So I am going to follow this experiment.
I have tried to journal several times but I always forget and stop doing it. Hopefully with you I can keep focused better. There are lots of benefits to journaling. Being able to return to a scripture later and review thoughts. Establishing a memorial. Connecting to God by seeking and asking questions.
I am also going to try to keep a prayer journal. I tried that once I got home and already crashed within a month on that. Like I said, consistency is not my strong point.
So basically I am going to be seeking God through study and Christian meditation. I am going to ask questions of God seek Him for answers. I am not sure how it will play out from day to day. I will probably seesaw between focusing on the book and chasing rabbit trails. And to my mind the rabbit trails seem more fun. This is all about digging. While many people connect to God through skimming the bible, there is always more truth to be found by digging deeper. The fullness of the Kingdom of God is not always out in the open for everyone to see without effort. Matthew 13:44
Anyway I picked Peter. Not sure why but I did. I try to follow a study method that has really opened up the bible for me. It is based on asking questions as you read and trying to answer those questions to gain a deeper understanding of what is going on. Each question offers a path you can take to learn. Anyway, here is my first steps through the book of Peter.
1Pe 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect sojourners of the Dispersion of Pontus, of Galatia, ofCappadocia, of Asia, and of Bithynia,
1Pe 1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
Questions
Who is Peter? (While it seems silly to ask simple questions, studying a person through the bible can reveal insights to the person’s life and how God dealt with them) What is special about him? Why is he writing? What is his character? What is his motivations for writing? What is the back drop for the writing?
Who is he writing to?
What is an apostle? Why is that important to establish in the address?Why does claiming this title seem so important? How does the audience view this title?
Who is Jesus Christ?
Who are the “elect sojourners” and why are they worth writing to?
What does “according to the foreknowledge” mean? What does this entail?
Who is God the Father?
What is “sanctification”? Why is it important? How does it happen? Do we have to do something to accomplish it?Is it quick? How long does it take? What is the point?
Chosen? For what purpose are these people chosen? How are they chosen?Is it random? Do they have some quality that makes them worth choosing?
What Spirit is this? What is a spirit? Is this one special? Is there only one? What do the others do? Do they have any input to this sanctification?Why does a spirit need to be part of this?
“to obedience” To what? What must they obey? And why does this obedience require sanctification?
“sprinkling of the blood”
Why is blood being sprinkled? Is there some significance to the sprinkling? Would smearing work?
And why blood? What is special about the blood? Could something else be used? Sweat, hair, etc? what is special about the blood?
“of Jesus Christ” So why is the blood of Jesus special? Can it not be someone else’s blood? What does the blood of Jesus accomplish that is so special that neither someone else’s blood nor something else of Jesus can work?
Every question is a rabbit trail that leads of through the forest that is the bible. Everyone has the potential to lead to truth of some kind. And each one is an opportunity to hear from God. I am not sure if I want to start pursuing each question off the bat or wait until we have trekked through all of 1 Peter before we start digging.
No comments:
Post a Comment