Study One Word

Sunday, March 11, 2012 Posted by Joline

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When I learned we would be serving you up a week's worth of meals on the topic of "study", I fully intended to pull out my old standby devotionals encouraging us to not "diet" on the word, but to open our mouths, chew, savor, and digest the most nutritionally dense feast for living - God's word.

Only, then God said, "Really, Joline? Have I not taught you anything new lately?" He has.

Our church has been going through Rick Warren's series, "40 Days in the Word." I will admit, up front, that I only got through about 7 days of the actual devotionals. Why? Because I got stuck on the first method of bible study which was taught in the book: Pronounce It.

I like words. The "Pronounce It" method had me in my ultimate element - taking one verse and dissecting each and every word. Maybe that doesn't sound thrilling to you, but on Day 1 of this method, when I was faced with taking a deeper look at each individual word in Philippians 1:6, which I often deem a "cliche" verse, ('cause we Christians kind of like to throw that one around), I was struck at how clearly God spoke to me through the word, A.

Yes, A.

"Being confident of this, that He who began A good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

We tend to categorize our lives into segments: home, school, work, personal growth, service, etc. (write out a list of all the "sections" of your life - you'll be surprised). Only, as the verse shares, He has begun good work in us - not good works (plural) in us. What we see as segments - God sees as WHOLE. When we look at our lives in segments, rather than whole, it is easy to lose confidence and to despair and feel off-kilter, for we succeed in some areas, and fail in others. The good news?

God sees all of us. Not just fragments. To Him, our lives are good work - we're an orange - not a bunch of orange sections. He sees us as the finished puzzle - not just as a bunch of scattered pieces. Are we confident in this?

All that, from being stuck on the word A.

Who said studying the bible was boring?

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