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One Way to Settle the Prescriptive/Descriptive Debate

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When I study a biblical narrative with a group of people, I find it inevitable that someone will eventually ask: “Is this prescriptive or descriptive?” In other words, is this passage prescribing particular behavior, which we ought to imitate? Or is it simply describing what the characters themselves did, but we ought not to do it ourselves?

It’s a great and important question.

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Not Always Clear

Sometimes the answer is clear: A narrative’s villains are not being held up as models to emulate. So don’t betray your Lord like Judas (Matt 26:47-49), and don’t blame everyone else for your sin like Saul (1 Sam 15:12-16). And when the narrator includes explicit instruction to emulate a character, then we are on strong ground to do so: Avoid idolatry and immorality, unlike the people of Israel (1 Cor 10:6-11), and serve others like Jesus (John 13:12-17).

But sometimes the answer is not clear: Should we delegate authority and establish middle management like Moses (Ex 18:24-26)? Should we test our abusers to determine the sincerity of their confession, like Joseph (Gen 42-44)? Should we try to walk on water like Peter (Matt 14:28-30)? Should we follow Jesus’ instructions to the 70 he sent out to minister in his name (Luke 10:2-12)?

The prescriptive/descriptive question especially comes up when a person’s near-and-dear theology is at stake, either in affirmation or suspicion. Should we speak in tongues and heal people, like the apostles in Acts? Should we set out the fleece to discern God’s will like Gideon? Should we include the children of believers in covenant membership like Abraham?

General Guidance

The prescriptive/descriptive debate on any given passage is closely related to two healthy instincts. We must hold these instincts in tension and not choose one over the other.

  1. The primary purpose of biblical narratives is to proclaim Jesus Christ (Luke 24:44-47; John 1:45, 5:39-40; 1 Peter 1:10-12; etc.).
  2. Biblical narratives present characters as examples to either imitate or avoid (1 Cor 10:1-14; Hebrews 11; Hebrews 12:15-17; 1 John 3:11-13; etc.).

Those with deep commitment to axiom #1 will lean toward viewing biblical narratives as descriptive. Those committed to axiom #2 will lean toward viewing biblical narratives as prescriptive.

Throughout church history, debates have raged over whether to adhere to axiom 1 or axiom 2. But to affirm either one and deny the other is to make a sucker’s choice. We must adhere to both.

A Way Forward

But that only leaves us where we started. How are we to decide whether a passage is prescriptive or descriptive? Whether a character ought to be imitated or not? When should my church start casting lots to fill open leadership positions (Acts 1:26)? And when will our Christian generation learn that “grace” is not implicit permission for rampant divorce, abuse, or sexual immorality (1 Kings 9:1-9)?

I don’t have the final answer that will solve every instance of the question. But I do have a suggestion that—for most passages we study—might just eliminate the need for even asking the question.

Here it is: Focus on applying the passage’s main point and not incidental details.

Now I’ll immediately qualify that guidance by acknowledging that it is possible to apply sub-points, secondary points, or minor details in the text. However, when we do so, we are usually on shakier ground. It’s easier to get the application wrong, since not every detail in a text is equally applicable or even intended by the author to be applied.

In fact, seeking to apply minor details in the text undermines all the work we’ve done up to this point in our study. Why bother doing all that observing and interpreting, if not to understand the author’s main point? Why bother getting to the main point, if we’re just going to apply the passage any which way that seems right in our own eyes?

If the main point is—by definition—the main thing God wants his people to understand from the text, why wouldn’t we focus our application on putting that main point into practice? We could spend all our time applying secondary things and miss the most important thing.

In the next post, I plan to give some examples of how this approach often settles the debate. But in the meantime, I urge you to try it on your own. Study a narrative passage sometime in the next week. Do your best to determine the author’s main point. Then seek to apply that main point and see what happens. Does it make the prescriptive/descriptive question disappear?

I guarantee it won’t answer all your questions about whether particular characters or parts of the text are prescriptive or descriptive. But it will enable you to land on solid ground in your application, in a way that may be highly motivating and might just change lives for God’s glory. Try it and let me know what happens!

Why “What Does it Mean to Me?” is a Bad Question

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Our method for Bible study can be summarized with just three letters—OIA—which represent three skills that govern all human communication: observe, interpret, and apply. Those three skills provide the answers to three basic questions:

  • What does it say?
  • What does it mean?
  • How should I change?

Over the years, I’ve regularly heard well-meaning folks ask that third question—the question of application—in this way: What doest it mean to me?

That question has the benefits of rhythm and resonance. It flows right off the tongue to recite: “What does it say, what does it mean, what does it mean to me.” And that rhythm can certainly aid with memory.

However, the costs we pay in clarity and accuracy are not worth the gains of memorability, for at least four reasons.

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It confuses application with interpretation.

By asking “what does it mean?” we are doing the work of interpretation. We are figuring out why the original author says what he says, and what that meant to the original audience. By using the same verbiage of “what does it mean,” despite the qualifier “to me,” we communicate that we are doing the same thing, only with a different audience in view.

Why does that matter? Who cares if we do (or communicate that we are doing) the same thing for different audiences? That leads me to the second reason that “what does it mean to me?” is a bad question.

It relativizes truth.

The question presumes that meaning is a matter of indifference. That a text’s meaning depends on who reads it. On how they perceive it. And so a text can mean one thing to one person or community, and another thing to a different group.

When we relativize the truth in this way, we ought not be surprised when the realities of Scripture are brought into question whenever they grow too inconvenient. For example, many who once stood for the Bible’s definition of marriage have come to interpret those pesky passages to have a different meaning, now that severe cultural pressure has been exerted.

And while I’m a fan of relativizing application, we must not do the same with interpretation. A passage doesn’t mean what any reader believes it means. A passage means what the author meant by it. For this reason, the concept of meaning carries much weight and is not something with which to tamper.

Wi to the intent to apply, it makes sense to ask “what does the text mean for me?” That question prods for implications and applications. But to ask what the text means to me is to tamper with its meaning.

You can choose to agree with the text or disagree with it. You can like it or dislike it. But you can’t change what it means. Do you see what I mean?

It makes application an exercise in self-fulfillment.

I recently wrote a thank-you note to a generous person who did something extraordinary for my family. In that note, I said, “it means so much to me that you…” That phrase, “what it means to me,” has a particular force and use in modern English, which has more to do with inspiration and delight than with truth or understanding.

The average person in today’s Western world, hearing the question “what does that mean to you?” doesn’t naturally hear a challenge or stimulation toward life change. That person hears an expression of self-fulfillment.

And self-fulfillment is not always a bad thing (as long as it’s not a godless or ultimate thing). I hope many people find great satisfaction and delight in their study of God’s word. But such satisfaction and delight is not the same thing as robust application.

It predisposes application to only one direction.

By asking “what does it mean to me,” we communicate momentum from the text to the individual reading it. Perhaps unintentionally, this frames what is happening as something that terminates on the reader. Therefore, even if the question itself is understood as one of application and not interpretation, it sets the reader up for inward application alone. The reader is not likely to consider outward application as well.

And since many of us are already naturally inclined to forget application’s second direction, we don’t need to reinforce the inclination with the way we frame the question.

Conclusion

For these reasons, we have never recommended “what does it mean to me” as a way to summarize the application step. We prefer to ask “How should I change?”

That doesn’t mean I’ll start flipping tables if I’m in your Bible study and you ask “What does this text mean to you?” I promise I’ll do my best to be polite. But I’ll also do my best to reframe the resulting discussion in a more useful way.

Bible Study Leaders Must Be Flexible

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Alora Griffiths (2019), public domain

As a college professor, I’ve taught the same material dozens of times. And while the main ideas of calculus don’t change drastically from one semester to the next, those classes are not the same.

Each iteration of the course is different because each class roster is different. If I ignored the particular students in my classes and focused only on the material, I wouldn’t be doing my job as a teacher.

Leadership is Always Local

This same truth holds when leading a Bible study: the audience matters. What is appropriate and powerful in one setting may fail spectacularly in another. This isn’t an original insight, but it does highlight a principle many ignore.

Leadership never exists in a vacuum. Leaders are leaders because they lead people. Even “organizational leaders” are leaders of people, because what do we suppose organizations are made of, heads of lettuce?

This doesn’t mean that good principles for leading are a fiction—they aren’t. However, good principles still need to be worked out locally; they are incarnated face-to-face in relationships with real people.

Flexibility in Study Meetings

When a Bible study leader prepares for a meeting, he should do the hard work of observation and interpretation, letting the text dig into his flesh and change him before he attempts to bring change to others. Nailing down a main point for the passage is a vital step before a Bible study meeting.

However, that same leader needs to be prepared for the actual people that walk through the door. They will arrive with different moods, experiences, and histories, and those differences may dramatically affect the discussion. This is especially true when it comes to application.

Examples

I’ll illustrate this point with two examples. While these examples are fictitious, I’ve led Bible study meetings in the past where similar issues came up and affected the mood and direction of the conversation. (It’s also worth mentioning that we call the small groups at my church Home Fellowship Groups. Bible study is an important component of our meetings, but we also share times of prayer and fellowship.)

Scenario 1 — Dwayne is a faithful member of your group. His work situation is consistently the most difficult part of his life, and he speaks openly about his troubles with his boss. His direct supervisor consistently belittles him and ignores his good performance. At the Bible study meeting in question, Dwayne has had an especially hard week, as he has been passed over for a promotion for the third straight time. If the application of the Bible study is focused on loving one’s neighbors, Dwayne’s background will have a huge effect on his participation, and if he participates, it will color the rest of the discussion.

Scenario 2 — Nicole is a single woman attending your Bible study, and her sister has asked her to move back home to help care for their aging father. Nicole does not have a good relationship with any of her family members, as they have distanced themselves from her since she has become a Christian. This move would take her hours away, and there is no good church in the town where her family lives. If the Bible study is about honoring one’s parents or the importance of a local church congregation, Nicole’s situation may change the conversation in big ways.

People Are Not an Interruption

For a new or inexperienced Bible study leader, these examples could seem frustrating, as though the life situations of these group members might derail a perfectly-planned study. But this Platonic ideal of a Bible study does not exist.

Leading real Bible studies means that the Bible comes into contact with real people, and the lives of real people are often messy and difficult. But these difficulties are not interruptions to our plans—this is what it means to lead people and help them apply the Bible in their lives.

Let’s go one step further. God never puts people together by accident, so these “challenging” cases that crop up in Bible study are not just opportunities for leaders to help their friends apply the Bible. We are meant to apply the Bible in community, so leaders may have a lot to learn personally (and not just as leaders) from these hard situations.

3 Implications of the Fact that Bible Application is for Everybody

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In the “longer ending” of Mark’s gospel, Jesus says, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). Though some dispute the authenticity of Mark’s longer ending, I’m not aware of anyone disputing this fundamental instruction for the Christian Church (Matt 28:18-20, Col 1:23, Rev 14:6).

From this command, we can deduce that the Bible (which preserves and explains the gospel) has relevance to all people in all the world. That, in turn, means that anybody, anywhere, at any time in history can apply the Bible.

Perhaps that fact seems obvious. But what are some of its implications?

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1. The same application will land differently in different cultures

Jesus warns that “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). Practical applications of this warning are generally not terribly controversial in western dignity cultures, but they are far more difficult and excruciating for those in eastern honor cultures.

By contrast, Jesus said that “everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery” (Matt 5:32). Eastern honor cultures may tend to follow this command more closely, while those in western dignity cultures sometimes tend to focus more on the exceptions than the rule itself.

2. Different people may legitimately adopt opposite applications

Jesus told one person that following him meant leaving his family behind (Luke 9:59-60). He told another person that following him meant returning to his family (Mark 5:19-20).

He told one guy to sell everything and give it to the poor (Mark 10:21-22). He told others to make different use of their money (Luke 16:9).

The point is that many applications that fit your situation will not fit other people’s situations. The same principle (e.g. investing in eternity) may take different expression for different people. Let each be fully convinced in their own mind (Rom 14:5).

3. Particular applications may mature along with the person

A child-like faith is to be commended (Mark 10:15). A childish approach to human relationship is not (1 Cor 13:11, 16:13).

For one person, simply saying “hello” to a stranger might be an act of selfless obedience to Christ. But as that person matures, that “hello” ought to grow into more mature expressions of evangelism and love for neighbor.

Bible application is for everybody. What other implications of that fact can you think of?

Application Positive and Negative

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I’ve been trying to help you stretch your capacity for Bible application. Application is like a muscle; the more you overwork it, the greater your strength for it.

So I’ve highlighted the fact that application involves not only doing but also thinking and loving. I’ve encouraged you to press into all three spheres, especially heart application. We’ve looked at the chief opponents of legalism and license. And most recently, I urged you to consider not only yourself but also how you can better disciple other people.

The next exercise for stretching your application muscles is to consider both positive and negative applications.

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Paul’s Formula for Change

When you seek to apply the Bible, the key question is: How should I change? And wouldn’t it be great if the Bible described for us a clear process for change?

In the letter of Ephesians, Paul encourages his readers to change. He wants them to stop thinking and acting like unbelievers (Eph 4:17-19) and to live in light of their calling in Christ instead (Eph 4:1). To help them do this, he reminds them of how they first “learned Christ”—i.e. how they became Christians in the first place (Eph 4:20).

That process of change—regardless of whether the change is from non-Christian to Christian, or from less mature Christian to more mature Christian—is as follows:

  • Put off your old self (Eph 4:22)
  • Renew your mind (Eph 4:23)
  • Put on the new self (Eph 4:24)

We can restate these steps as:

  • Stop disobeying
  • Adopt God’s perspective of the world
  • Start obeying

Theologically, this process involves a continual transformation from being like Adam (the old man) and becoming like Jesus (the new man). But in practical terms, it involves simple disobedience and obedience, with a worldview adjustment in between.

Examples of the Process

Paul then provides four specific examples of the process (Eph 4:25-29) followed by a concluding summary (Eph 4:30-32). In each of the four examples he explicitly follows the three-step process, though he sometimes mixes up the order.

Example #1: Lies (Eph 4:25)

  • Put off: “put away falsehood”
  • Put on: “let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor”
  • Renew the mind: “we are members of one another”

It’s not enough for the compulsive liar to simply stop telling lies. He must replace lying behaviors with truthful ones, searching for opportunities to speak the truth to help others. The only way to do this from the heart is to change your view of other people: Don’t see them as adversaries you must defend yourself against, but as members of your body whom you are compelled to help succeed.

Example #2: Sinful anger (Eph 4:26-27)

  • Put on: “be angry without sinning”
  • Put off: “do not let the sun go down on your anger”
  • Renew the mind: “give no opportunity to the devil”

Have you ever tried to deal with your anger by just telling yourself “Don’t be angry!” Yeah, it doesn’t work. That’s because anger is a legitimate response to that which is wrong in the world. The problem most people have is not that they are angry, but that they allow their anger to justify sinful treatment of others. One effect of anger is that it just makes us feel so right.

Paul’s solution is to be angry without sinning. There is such a thing as patient anger. Gentle anger. Kind anger. Loving anger. Anger that doesn’t demand to be the last word (the sun going down on it). How does one cultivate such anger? Only by adopting the Lord’s perspective that sinful, demanding anger gives the devil a swift opportunity to rip relationships apart. You don’t really want him to do that, do you? Then direct your anger toward him instead of toward your fellow members of Christ’s body (cf. Eph 6:12).

I encourage you to work through the examples of theft (Eph 4:28) and rotten speech (Eph 4:29) on your own. How does Paul model the same three steps to produce change with respect to each of those sins?

Application Applications

How does Paul’s process apply to the process of applying the Bible?

First off: His step of renewing the mind is very much what I mean by head application. Paul shows us that application is more than doing; it must also impact our thinking, our faith, and our worldview.

Second, even when he speaks about doing, Paul provides application that is both negative and positive. He describes behaviors that must stop, and other behaviors that ought to replace the first ones.

The Bible’s chief word for negative, “put off” application is repentance. The Bible’s chief word for positive, “put on” application is obedience. Both repentance and obedience could properly be called “application.”

So you’ve now got a bunch of tools to help you get out of your application rut. If you find yourself frequently coming up with nothing but the big three—read the Bible more; pray more; share the gospel more—stretch your application muscles with some of the following exercises:

  1. Consider not only the hands (doing) but also the head (believing) and heart (loving or valuing).
  2. Consider not only inward application (for yourself) but also outward application (how God would have you influence or disciple others).
  3. Consider both negative (repentance) and positive (obedience) applications.

More tools are still to come!

Don’t Forget Application’s Second Direction

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When people feel stuck in a rut of application—where their application of every passage sounds the same—my first bit of advice is to remember that application involves more than doing. But then my second instruction is to reflect on application’s second direction.

The Two Directions

Application can go in two directions: inward and outward.

Commonly, when people think about application, they think only about inward application: How will this text impact me? (And specifically, people tend to think of application as “according to this text, what must I do?”) Such inward application is good and proper. We ought to be personally impacted by the Scripture on a regular basis. The two greatest commandments are to love God and to love our neighbor (Matt 22:36-40). Everything hangs on this, and our study of the Bible ought to sharpen and improve our own love for both God and neighbor.

So I would never argue against personal (what I call “inward”) application. But when your application loses steam and rehashes all the same things over time, you’ll be greatly helped by considering application’s second direction as well.

Outward application is all about how I can help others to change. How I can be an agent of influence. How I can obey Jesus’ Great Commission to make disciples (Matt 28:18-20).

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What Outward Application is Not

Outward application is not about sticking your nose into other people’s business. It’s not about being the sin police. It’s not about correcting everyone and everything around you.

The purpose of outward application is not to ask others to do things you won’t do yourself. Outward application without inward application is hypocrisy.

And by all means, outward application is not about picking fights, hunting for problems, or criticizing with gusto. Outward application is not about taking over responsibility for other people’s choices; “If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scoff, you alone will bear it” (Prov 9:12).

What Outward Application is

Outward application is about honoring God in the various positions of authority he has given you. Outward application is about growing as a person of influence. Outward application is about considering others more highly than yourself, and helping others to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Outward application can take the form of effective evangelism, sensible apologetics, or wise mentorship.

Paul applies the Scriptures outwardly when he commands fathers to “not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph 6:4). An overbearing father and an absent dad are both failing to apply the Scripture in an outward direction—regardless of whether that man has attained a high degree of personal godliness or church office.

In addition to such instruction for parenting, potential outward applications include winning a husband (1 Peter 3:1-2), beautifying a wife (Eph 5:25-28), training younger women (Titus 2:4-5), leaving someone to God’s vengeance (Rom 12:18-21), inspiring others to glorify God (1 Peter 2:11-12, Matt 5:16), and entrusting faithful servants with the gospel (2 Tim 2:1-2).

Even missional prayers (Eph 6:18-20) and vibrant singing (Col 3:16) could be ways to apply the Bible in an outward direction.

This does not exhaust the options, but gives only a sampling of directly outward commands in the Scriptures. Many passages could be applied in similar ways.

Conclusion

In western societies that value personal freedoms, we can easily get into a rut when it comes to applying the Bible. We have abundant concern for individual holiness and godliness and want to make sure we are walking in personal relationship with our God.

The challenge is to not forget application’s second direction, and move beyond ourselves to help others. We’ve been saved into a new kingdom, a new community. And King Jesus gives every one of us opportunities to influence others and minister his grace to them. And make no mistake: He will hold us accountable for how effectively we have served and discipled the people he’s entrusted to us. There’s a whole parable to that effect.

The Sluggard in Every One of Us

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Scott Hubbard wants you to know four things about the Bible’s portrait of a sluggard:

  1. ‘A little’ adds up.
  2. Neglect grows weeds.
  3. Our desires often deceive us.
  4. Hard work flows from the heart.

Hubbard does a great job correlating the teaching of Proverbs on the character of the sluggard. In the process, Hubbard models terrific head and heart application.

Check it out!

Two Opponents of Heart Application

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If my experience is symptomatic of a broader reality, and heart application is the most difficult of the three spheres, then it behooves us to understand potential hindrances. And the New Testament leads us to expect two primary opponents.

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Legalism

The first opponent of heart application is legalism. Legalism is when we add to God’s word rules and behaviors he does not require of us. Even when such things used to be required under the old covenant, we are still “adding” them to God’s current ethical expectations (Gal 6:15-16).

Legalism was an issue when the Galatian trouble-makers taught that converts had to be circumcised and become Jews before they could become Christians. Legalism was an issue when Pharisees erected voluminous regulations for Sabbath-keeping (Luke 13:10-17) and ritual purity (Mark 7:1-5). Legalism was an issue when the Colossians and Ephesians were attracted to ascetic practices that removed them from tangible pleasures and blessings (Col 2:20-23, 1 Tim 4:1-5).

How does legalism oppose application to the heart? By producing the sort of person who does the right things without becoming the right person who believes the gospel. Legalism does not require any change on the inside, such that you become the kind of person the Lord wants you to be.

…this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men

Isaiah 29:13

License

The second opponent of heart application is license. License is when we subtract from God’s word and minimize or ignore kingdom ethics. Even when the motivating factor is God’s grace to needy sinners, we are still subtracting from God’s word if we suppose grace does anything but train us to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age (Titus 2:11-14).

License was an issue when Philippian citizens worshiped their belly and set their minds on earthly things (Phil 3:18-21). License was an issue when Ephesian believers were tempted to live like unbelievers, allowing hardness of heart to darken their understanding and live for what they could see, hear, feel, and touch (Eph 4:17-20). License was an issue when teachers would arise who employed the doctrine of grace to promote “anything goes” and thereby lead people away from loyalty to Christ (Jude 3-4).

How does license oppose application to the heart? By producing the sort of person who may even believe the right things but without becoming the right person who does the right things. License does not require any change on the inside, such that you become the kind of person the Lord wants you to be.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-5

The Commonality

Both opponents of heart application—legalism and license—prevent people from becoming the right people on the inside. Both are concerned with outward behavior. Both are harsh masters, demanding far too much of their victims.

The best tactics for resisting both opponents is to properly grasp the main points of Scripture, and then to allow those truths to shape you from the inside out. To make you into not only a person who does the right things but also a person who loves and desires the right things.

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.

Hebrews 12:15-16

The Most Difficult Kind of Bible Application

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Of the three spheres of application, I believe the most difficult one for most people is the heart sphere. For that reason, my series of posts on leading small groups has one specifically on how to encourage heart-oriented application. Most people tend to find head and hands application more natural.

Why do you think that is?

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Unless they have an extraordinary aversion to theological debate, most people have no resistance to head application. What we must believe about God, the world, ourselves, sin, and redemption—these things are glorious truths, and clarity on such things from the Scripture is precious.

And as I wrote last week, we tend to have such an affinity for “doing” (hands application) that the concept of application itself is often reduced to little more than what we do in light of the Bible’s teachings. The challenge is to help folks understand that application involves more than doing.

But when it comes to heart application—what we love, value and cherish; what sort of people we are to become—those who don’t balk at such personal intrusion can sometimes feel like ignorant babes.

How do we do it? How do we not simply guilt people into obedience, but motivate and inspire them to want to obey God? How do we become the sort of people who turn away from sin not only because it’s our duty but also because we are personally repulsed by the idea of committing it? How do we find in Christ a greater and more secure treasure than anything we can see, smell, taste, or touch here and now?

The thing is: Heart application requires a grasp of both human nature and the Lord’s process for rebooting that nature in Christ. That takes hard work. If you want your Bible application to be quick and dirty, the sphere of the heart will nearly always become a neglected stepchild.

Hebrews 4:14-16 provides an interesting study in the spheres of application:

  • “Let us hold fast our confession” – that’s head application.
  • “Let us draw near to the throne of grace” – that’s hands application.
  • “…with confidence…” – there’s the heart of the matter.

Does the confession of Christ as great high priest lead you not only to approach the Lord, but to do so as a person with full confidence in his mercy and grace? Is your first instinct to turn to the Lord in prayer when you need help?

Is heart application difficult for you? If so, why do you think that is?

3 Fruits of Engaged Bible Reading

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Because Karrie Hahn believes the Bible is precious, she wants you to read it for the right reasons. She gives three quite compelling ones.

  1. Awe
  2. Transformation
  3. Endurance

Sometimes application means simply letting the Bible shape us in these areas. For example:

An encounter with the God of the universe can’t help but produce awe and wonder in those to whom He reveals Himself. He is glorious and majestic, unlike anyone or anything else:

The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty . . .  Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty!” (Ps. 93:1, 4)

His greatness is unsearchable, and He is glorious, splendid, and majestic (see Ps. 145:3, 5). Holy Scripture is how we come to better know the God who has called us to Himself.

Check it out!