The Practical Disciple

1) Listen to it 2) Read it 3) Study it 4) Meditate on it 5) Memorize it 6) Journal it 7) Act on it How many of these seven are a part of your life right now? Which one could you add right now? Each one enhances our discipleship and our relationship with God in a slightly different way. I would encourage you to experiment. These are not the only ways to take in God’s Word. Recently, I was a part of a workshop in which we all created art out of the experience of listening to the creation story both read and sung. Paraphrasing the passage through art really helped me slow down and internalize the text in a whole new way and with a depth I didn’t anticipate. Be creative in your approaches. I had a … Read entire article »

Yesterday I shared two approaches to scripture reading–formational and informational reading. To insure a healthy blend of each consider journaling. I have used the following journal model for many years now and it has yielded a constant forward momentum in my discipleship journey. A sample journal based upon the model following that is in bold and italics may look like this— Date: 6/2/08 Passage: Mark 12:1-12 First Obervation/keywords: vinyard, Son. God goes to any length to care for us, but we don’t accept it easily. Main Idea/meaning: Jesus was explaining to the multitude how great God’s love is and how they have rejected it time and time again. Jesus’ death is foreshadowed. This passage make me feel: a need to examine my own life to make sure that I am recognizing Jesus. The multitude … Read entire article »

Most approaches to reading scripture can be broadly categorized into essentially two categories, either,”informational” or “formational” reading. You need a healthy mix of both. When you read scripture “informationally” you are getting to know the text. You are exploring questions like: “What is the story here? Who are the people involved? When and why was it written? Who was the author and what was his concern? Who was the audience? You may dig into historcial questions like “What is a tabernacle?” “What kind offerings did these people do?” “Where is Phillipi?” “What is a samaritan?” Basically, informational reading involves studying the text to get at the story or content. If you have done a good job of informational … Read entire article »

Hey readers–I am back from a brief blogging hiatus. I followed my own advice and made some margin in my life last week when I was beset by life. Part of that margin meant not blogging for a bit. That season of hurry has past, so here I am again. Last week someone asked me what spiritual disciplines I felt were important. The core routines that have helped me most in my walk of faith have been: worship, scripture reading, scripture study, devotional reading, intentional acts of kindness and service, tithing, and keeping a sabbath. If you read that list closely you might note a couple of routines that sound repetitive, but are intentionally different. Specifically, scripture reading vs. scripture study and worship vs. maintaining a sabbath. Though used “vs.” these … Read entire article »