In many ways, the most important of the four goals of Bible805 (for you to know, trust, apply and teach the Bible) is for you to APPLY the Bible. Though application comes last in our progression of how first we need to KNOW what it says, then TRUST it is God’s Word, and finally to APPLY it, without application, knowledge and trust alone do little to change our lives and serve as a witness to our world. If we aren’t applying it, we certainly cannot teach it with integrity.
More importantly, our Lord expects us to apply what He tells us in this Word as James 1:22, NLT commands,
But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.
I was reminded of the importance of applying the Bible with the following quote from A.W. Tozer:
There is scarcely anything so dull and meaningless as Bible doctrine taught for its own sake. Truth divorced from life is not truth in its Biblical sense, but something else and something less….
No man is better for knowing that God in the beginning created the heaven and the earth. The devil knows that, and so did Ahab and Judas Iscariot. No man is better for knowing that God so loved the world of men that He gave His only begotten Son to die for their redemption. In hell there are millions who know that. Theological truth is useless until it is obeyed. The purpose behind all doctrine is to secure moral action….A.W. Tozer
This importance of application is why I attempt in all the teaching in the Bible805 ministry to weave in application throughout the lessons
We need to be constantly attentive to God’s Word, constantly asking questions like this as we read or listen to it:
- What is God telling me about Himself?
- If I am to be a reflection of God, a disciple of Jesus in my world, what does this show me about how I need to live?
- What negative actions or attitudes did the characters in the biblical story illustrate that I should avoid?
- What attitudes should I have to be more in line with God’s way of thinking in this book?
I will always attempt to answer these questions and make suggestions for application and I encourage each of you to personalize them for yourself.
Francis Schafer wrote a book entitled How Shall We Then Live? and that question is a useful one for us to ask ourselves whenever we read God’s Word.
I pray I never teach in a “dull and meaningless” way, only doctrine for its own sake, and that all of our lives reflect the truth of God’s Word in practical, tangible ways.