Getting a "Grip" on Scripture

Picture by Stocksnap on Pixabay

When I taught high school Bible, I used to tell my students, “You don’t have to be mean to be a teacher, but it helps.”

In fact, I said it so often, it turned into a well-rehearsed call-and-response: I would say, “You don’t have to be mean to be a teacher…” And they would answer (rolling their eyes), “But it helps.”

I know. I know. Context is everything. They knew I was joking.

And I was.

Mostly.

But it is true: Just like a coach or a physical therapist, an effective classroom teacher must push sometimes – and be impervious to his students’ protests and complaints.

I drew on that mean streak once to help my students understand how to get a grip on the Bible. I picked out a tough-guy know-it-all to come to the front of the class and help me with an illustration. I told him to hold a Bible in his hand while I talked to the class. The catch was that he wasn’t allowed to use his thumb.

Know-it-alls don’t usually think things through, and, true to form, this tough guy was more than happy to accommodate my request. He gripped the book between his palm and his four fingers, smirking while I talked.

I turned and explained to the class that when we want to get a grip on the Bible, we have several means at our disposal:

1. We can hear God’s Word.
2. We can read God’s Word.
3. We can study God’s Word.
4. We can memorize God’s Word.

All these are good, but they are all insufficient. Even if I am reading, studying, and even memorizing God’s Word – even if I’ve engaged all four fingers – I still won’t get a grip on it until I engage the thumb.

(By this time the tough guy’s smirk has been replaced with a grimace. The muscles in his forearm are beginning to burn.)

So what is the thumb, you ask? What is the one other thing I must do with God’s Word if I want to really understand it and allow it to master my life?

The thumb, the one activity that is essential to my Scripture engagement, is thoughtful obedience, personal and intentional reflection on God’s Word that leads to changes in the way I think, speak, and act.

(By this time, everyone in the classroom – including the tough-guy know-it-all – gets the point. He needs the thumb.)

I won’t get a grip on Scripture until Scripture has a grip on me.
 
This means that there must be a conscious intentionality about my engagement with God’s Word, a recognition that He has given us His Word not just to inform me but to transform me. This is why the Epistle of James urges us “be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourself” (Jam 1:22).  

Thoughtful, intentional obedience is the only way I can get a grip on Scripture, and the only way it can get a grip on my life.

Persevere,
Paul Pyle
Pastor of Discipleship