Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will. (Rom 12:2b, NIV)
I am a regular lesson-taker, that is, about every 4-6 weeks or sometimes every 2-3 months, depending on how my game is, what I’m specifically working on, or what my golf playing and life schedules are like.
Most recently, I took a lesson when I thought I was striking the ball quite well and wanted to work on specific shot-making. In our usual warmup, my instructor watched me hit some balls, and we ended up going back to something we had worked on before.
This time, he described what he wanted me to do in a slightly different way from previous lessons. Where I thought I had been striking the ball pretty well, my instructor helped me to see how I could do better.
He did this by gradually layering on the foundation we were building together. As I thought about our process, I realized that it could be described as: instruct, review, refresh, and refine.
Growth in our Christian life is similarly marked by instruction, review, refreshing, and refining.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
The Bible is the inerrant Word of God; it is His instruction manual to us on how to conduct ourselves in all aspects of our lives. As an instruction manual, there are many ways to use it to our benefit and edification.
We can study by book, theme, subject, or word search. Studying scripture over time allows us to revisit, understand, and apply it to our lives.
In her best-selling book Mindset, Carol Dweck distinguishes between a “fixed mindset” and a “growth mindset.” With a growth mindset, she writes, “everyone can change and grow through application and experience.” As believers, we look to the ongoing study of scripture to instruct us continually and progressively.
Rereading what we had read before, perhaps years earlier, gives us the opportunity to refresh and refine our earlier understanding as God reveals to us what to read. Applying scripture to more recent life experiences can lead us to take inventory and examine what is working well and what isn’t. The Holy Spirit is our instructor through scripture to continue building on our spiritual foundation.
We can review and be reminded of things we have read before but may have forgotten. We can be refreshed as additional study encourages us and sheds new light on our view of God, ourselves, and others. We can be refined as we gain new insights and continue to apply God’s Word to our lives.
As Paul prays for us, “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”
Prayer: Lord, may we truly and continually be transformed by our faith in You and the studying of Your Word.