Okay, I haven’t been as faithful posting to this blog as I originally intended, but I will do better. My goal is to write two posts every week in addition to my bulletin article, but I have been a little lazy the past couple of weeks–please forgive me.

I don’t know why I like to compare Bible study to eating. Perhaps it is because I really enjoy both of these activities (I probably enjoy the eating a little too much). I think the comparision is useful though, because the Bible is our spiritual food and we need to consider how to have good nutrition spiritually so we can be healthy Christians.

Often, a food pyramid is used to teach healthy eating habits. The general idea is the most important part of our nutrition (i.e., whole grains) forms the foundation of the pyramid and supports the rest. Moving up the pyramid you find the next most important groups (Fruits and vegetables). Then you have Dairy and Meats. Finally, you have at the very top things that are bad for you if you consume too much of them (i.e., fats, oils, and sugars). This pyramid idea has been and is being disputed, but that’s okay. The goal of this post is not to teach healthy eating habits. Lets look at how this applies to the Bible.

If I were to make a pyramid for Bible nutrition (which I guess I did), it might look something like the pyramid to the right (Click on the pyramid for easier reading). The following explains each section of this pyramid.

Good Bible Translations: This must be the foundation of proper Bible study–it is what we are studying! Too many people get caught up in using Bible study tools and guides and lose sight of what they are actually trying to study. This is the only part of the pyramid that is necessary to understand God’s will. I believe word-for-word translations are best (KJV, NKJV, ASV, NASU, RSV, ESV) because God inspired the Bible word-for-word (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16-17). Paraphrase and dynamic equivalent translations take more liberties with God’s word and get in the way of Bible study. Also, I am not a fan of study Bibles. These are just commentaries inside your Bible. It is food someone else has chewed and spit it out for you to consume. Don’t eat pre-chewed food. Its gross and wrong. There is, however, one study Bible I am interested in learning more about: The New Inductive Study Bible. Instead of being a commentary, this one acts as a guide to Bible study giving you instructions on how to study each book of the Bible (if you have one of these study Bibles please let me know what you think of them). In addition, a Greek New Testament or Greek Interlinear is very useful. The Bible was inspired in its original languages and by studying them we get a more accurate, colorful, and in-depth study of God’s Word.

An Exhaustive Concordance: This is a tool that points you back to the Bible. It merely gives every occurence of a word letting you examine topics and study how the Bible writers used a particular word. Watch out! Some concordances are not exhaustive (i.e., they do not give every occurrence of a word). The occurrences displayed by these concordances have been chosen according by some guy and he/she thinks is important. This can give you an inaccurate picture of topics and word use. Don’t let some guy dictate your Bible study, get an exhaustive concordance.

Greek Lexicons/Grammar: If you want to study the New Testament in its original language you are going to need these tools. Grammars in particular will be useful. Studying the Greek involves looking at more than what the word means. The grammar of Greek is very detailed and precise (more so than English).

Bible Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Atlases: These give you historical information about people and places in the Bible. All the information you really need to know, however, is already in the Bible.

Manners and Customs Books: These tell you about the life during the time of Bible writers and heroes. It also explains some of their actions that can seem odd to us. Again, all the information you really need to know about these things is already in the Bible.

Commentaries: These are the fats, oils, and sugars of Bible study and should be used sparingly and as a last resort. Commentaries are the work of another’s Bible study. They can be inaccurate and misleading. They are like highly processed foods–they are not nearly as good for you as going to the source.

We’ve decided on the theme for our VBS this year–The Great Sea Adventure. We are excited to have more time and more involvement in preparations than last year and expect it to be a great VBS. Please join us as we explore some of the great sea adventures in the Bible. It will run from July 13th to July 16th from 6:30-8:00 pm.

God has set a feast before us. Deuteronomy 8:3 tells us: “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” God’s Word is a feast which will sustain and enrich us, but many do not seem to get any benefit from its study. The problem: they don’t know how to eat a Bible. Let’s consider a few suggestions for following a good Bible diet.

First, realize you can eat your Bible. Many people don’t believe they can understand the Bible. Some have been told they can’t by someone they trust; others think they need some expert to understand; some are confused and think the Bible is full of contradictions–ALL LIES! The Bible commands us to understand the will of the Lord (Ephesians 5:17). God would not ask us to do anything we were not capable of achieving. In 1 Timothy 2:4, we are told God wants all men to come to the knowledge of the truth. God has not set us up to fail, He has set us up for success by giving us His Word. Accept that you can understand the Bible, pray for understanding, and dive in.

Second, we need to have a consistent diet. Normal people don’t eat just one meal a week, they eat three plus meals a day (some people eat way too much). Yet, we expect to study our Bibles once a week (or less) and expect it to enrich our lives. God’s Word is absorbed into our lives and understood when we meditate on it day and night (Psalm 1:2). Paul wrote to Timothy to show him how he could be constantly nourished on the words of faith (1 Timothy 4:6). We need to be like the noble-minded Bereans and study God’s Word daily with great eagerness (Acts 17:11).

Third, be willing to give adequate time and effort to Bible study. Slow down, chew your food, and enjoy what you are eating. So often people sastisfy themselves with a quick read of God’s Word or one of those pathetically shallow devotional books. Some of what the Bible says is hard (not impossible) to understand (2 Peter 3:15-16), we need to dig in and examine the Bible. 2 Timothy 2:15 tells us to engage in diligent study to be a good workman who handles God’s Word accurately.

Finally, prepare yourself to “stomach” the Bible. Not everyone can accept what the Bible says because they haven’t prepared themselves to accept it. If you are used to eating meat and potatoes and you feast on spicy Indian food you are setting youself up for queasy day. In the same way, if you come to the Bible with an attitude of “I already know what I need to know, and I am not going to change anything” your Bible study will not be fruitful. Accepting the following Biblical principles will help you stomach God’s Word: