Hello everyone, we are in week 3 of highlighting our core value of Jesus Centered, and the segment I want to focus on is Spending Time in the Word. Many of you have probably heard statistics about “learning” that say something like you retain 10% of what you read and 20% of what you see, 30% of what you hear, 50% of the combination of those things and so on. I bring that up not to highlight the statistics, because technically the statistics have been proven wrong. But I bring it up because what it does prove is that we all learn in different ways. And quite often it takes more than one method for us to truly retain something and perceive it.
So how does that apply to spending time in the Word? What I would encourage you to consider in this case is that to spend time in the Word doesn’t just mean reading the Bible. While reading the Bible is great, (and I think we should all do that!), you can do it (spending time) in various ways. The Bible could be read from cover to cover, it could be read in chronological order, or you just spend time picking out verses here and there. I’d encourage you to do that, but there are other methods about spending time in the Word.
Things like podcasts. Podcasts are great for people who have time behind the wheel and can just listen as they drive. Or they retain better by hearing instead of just reading, or they struggle to stay focused when they read. Other methods might be watching Bible Project videos. I love that it has really helped me to understand scripture, and various ways to understand themes of certain books of the Bible, and really what is happening within that book. Other things that have also worked well for me are watching movie series like The Chosen. I think The Chosen has been great because it has brought scripture to life for me through cinematography and acting, and actually just putting a different perspective on the potential behind scripture and what could have happened. It helps me get out of thinking a certain way, a certain mindset that I’ve always had. So there are a lot of different ways that you can spend time in the Word.
So how do you recognize that in others? Well, when people are reading the Bible, especially if they read it a few times, they’re going to be picking up tidbits and they’ll be excited to share those. So listen for little things. And also listen for questions. Every time I read the Bible, I have questions about a certain passage or how I read it differently. Podcast listeners are, you know, a dedicated bunch and they love their podcasts, and when they find a good one, they love to share it. So listen for that. Bible Project videos gets people asking questions. Same way with The Chosen. It’s amazing how many times I’ve heard people talking about The Chosen series, and really what they’re doing is focusing on scripture and they’re spending time in the Word. Sometimes you can tell somebody’s been in the Word if they’re frustrated. One example is, my wife is taking the Bible Blueprints class right now and this week she said it was a tough week for her because she was struggling with all the verbiage in the books. They were going through Isaiah and Jeremiah. This told me she was in the Word. Memorization is another way. When people are memorizing scripture, they’re often quoting it or repeating it, because to memorize, you often have to repeat. There are a lot of things that point to people spending time in the scriptures. So when you see these things, I would encourage you to recognize them, grab one of the Rock Award cards, write their name on it and call out what they did. And I just really hope that you have a great week this week! Thank you. Greg