Studying the Bible can take many forms. The real requirement is to spend time with God’s Word.
HI ,
We’re almost halfway through the year. How are you doing on your expectations for 2023? On track? Off track. Finding a new track?
I’m behind on my writing plans. But ahead on others. I guess I’ll call it even and let it go at that. 🙂
A few weeks ago I shared that I was doing a new exercise in my daily devotions. I’m hand-writing out big chunks of the epistle to the Ephesians. Why? Because I really want to memorize the book of Ephesians. It’s been something I’ve said I wanted to do every year for the last several year.
So the technique I’m following is to copy out chapter 1 every day for a month. The theory is that by going through my brain to my fingers it will make an indelible impression on my brain.
Sadly I must report not-success.
It’s been over a month of copying down Ephesians and I have not memorized chapter 1. Part of the challenge is that Paul engages in epic run-on sentences that nothing really flows naturally. So it’s advanced memorization at least.
BUT there is a major silver lining. As I’ve been going through this process of writing, I’ve been learning a lot about the first chapter of Ephesians. Just the process of writing it out has gotten me deep into understanding what Paul has to say. And since Ephesians is so theological, I’ve been learning a lot.
Did you know…
- Multiple times Paul refers to knowing or understanding God’s will – and every time he tags it to God the Father, never to Jesus.
- Also multiple times he uses the phrase “to the praise of His glorious grace”. I thought it was interesting to think that God’s actions are so that we would give praise of His grace.
- Multiple times Paul talks about how we receive spiritual insight as a part of what we receive in Christ.
I’m not doing any specific extra activity. Just writing the words. Sometimes partly from memory. Sometimes having to look them up. But as I repeat the process day over day, little bits are starting to jump out at me.
It just goes to show that when you spend time with God’s word, stuff happens. And not just any stuff, but study-stuff.
The key here is repetition. Going over the same thing again and again. I will say this kind of flies in the face of what we often do – seek the novel or the new. Here it’s all about going over the same thing multiple times until we see past the obvious to what lies beneath it.
I’m going to keep doing this exercise. Probably not so much to pursue my memorization dream, but to gain the benefits of the repetition and the ability to see beyond the surface of this amazing epistle.
I haven’t decided when I’m going to transition from Ephesians 1 to chapter 2. The way i see it, I have until the end of July to make the leap if I want to do a month per chapter and end by 12/31.
I will say that I recommend this method to anyone who wants to become more familiar with God’s Word. It’s easy to do. It doesn’t take any special equipment. It doesn’t require any specialized knowledge. But the result is a lot of good insights to what God has to say.
If you decide to give it a try (I heartily recommend it – you could have fun and focus on the book of Jude – which is only one chapter and maybe even memorize the whole thing.) – send me a note and let me know what you’ve chosen to do.
That’s my little (or not so little) exhortation of the week.
On another note, I’ve been working on updating my website. https://dennis-stevenson.com. I would love to know what you think. As an author is there anything else you’d like to know that this website doesn’t cover, I’d love to know, so send me a note and I’ll work on it. This is part of my effort to lean into writing actively once again.
That’s it for now. May you have a blessed week ahead.
Dennis
