Skip to main content

Wonderful Bible Study


I've written several times before about how I've had a hard time finding Bible studies that I really feel I can trust (and not be cynical about). I am really thankful for the one I'm doing right now for that reason. I am only half way through this study and I felt compelled to leave this review even before finishing.

Every day, I look forward to doing this Bible study for my quiet times. Every day it challenges me to dig into the scriptures. A few years ago, I tried to do one of Cynthia Heald's studies and I set it down. Honestly, I think I was young and I wanted to be spoon fed. I put more stock in feeling and dwelling on my feelings as a woman. I used to do a lot of studies that encouraged me to infer into the Word and only ask you to look up single verses. But, over the years, I've learned a few things about not taking verses out of context, not inferring into the Word, and not being misled by how an author tells a story (take it to the Word). =) Remembering these things is my way to fight cynicism about Bible Studies.

This Bible study is so good. Heald primarily looks to the Word and includes very wise quotes from other authors. (I have shared several with our small group and everyone has loved them.) She shares from her own experiences--but they are brief. Much more time is spent in the study with the reader digging into the word. She directs the reader to look up passages (most of the time) rather than a verse or two. In my selfish heart, I want to check the box and be given one or two verses to read, but that's why I know this study is so good for me to do--I have to look up passages (5-10 verses) at a time.

This study is about God's grace and how we love one another. The study delves into God's grace for us (His covenants with us), legalism vs. grace, love and grace, and what it means to live out our lives in God's grace. The chapter about legalism was especially good, but all of the chapters have been challenging and encouraging. I haven't found a Bible study in a very long time written for women that I would recommend--but now I have!

One last note...if you are a woman and you enjoy John Piper's, Jerry Bridge's, or Tim Keller's books and studies, I think you would particularly enjoy this study.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Comparison of Verses

Tonight I was reading the Mom's Bible again (NCV) and compared this verse: NCV Ephesians 5:22-24 22 Wives, yield to your husbands, as you do to the Lord, 23 because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. And he is the Savior of the body, which is the church. 24 As the church yields to Christ, so you wives should yield to your husbands in everything. NIV Ephesians 5:22-24 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. The Message 22-24 Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewis...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grieved

Why is it that my generation (I belong to Gen X) and generations after us always seem to think that they know more than the generations that have come before us? Why is there such a lack of respect in our generation for our elders? Why do we think that the liturgy of the church and hymns are irrelevant? It is ironic to me that the emergent movement is saying that the seeker sensitive movement is irrelevant. It seems as if it was only a few years ago when it was the seeker sensitive movement that said to the traditional church that it (the traditional church) was irrelevant. I'm reading a book with all of these big words and I want to be honest--I didn't understand a lot of it. I'm not dumb. I understood most of it, but the author was assuming a lot of background knowledge on the part of the reader. Most of the time I learn deep theological concepts and then I have to store them in my "attic" (as Autumn would say) because there isn't enough room in the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Missing Pieces

The other day I was discussing a book with my mom and explaining to her my concern about how "blame" is cast upon the child in the story.  My mom commented about how deeply I read and consider what is written. Sometimes I wonder if I go overboard.  Am I questioning too much?  Am I overreacting? Why am I reacting this way? I come back to knowing that God wired me this way.  But, I also reflect on how God has guided my path through the maze of books I've read over the past few years and what I've learned from the books themselves and from reading them.   Recently, I read a book that troubled me.  The book I finished reading was  Guiltless Living  by Ginger Hubbard.  When I began reading it, I found myself puzzled and then disconcerted. And in the end, I cried. But, I cried for a different reason than one might suspect. I'd like to explain. I did not read Ms. Hubbard's previous book “ Don't Make Me Count to Three ”, but I knew from f...
Post a Comment
Read more