Putting Together the Bible Puzzle

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. I Corinthians 2:14

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During our earliest days of missionary work if someone had told me I had a "lite" version of Christianity, I would have been insulted. However, several years later, when God led us into ministry among the Liberian refugees who had fled to the Ivory Coast, I totally fell apart. I began to see that, indeed, my version was wasn't holding up.

God used that time of upheaval to lead me into a deeper relationship with Him than I had thought possible. I had an insatiable appetite to know God more. And that meant learning more from the Bible. By God's grace, because I had a rich Christian heritage that included a lot of Bible training, I already had a very good foundation.

Through the years I have come to think of the Bible as a huge puzzle—one I want to put together! By handling it as such, growing in God's Word is broken down into more manageable parts.

1. The edge pieces are very important when making a puzzle. They "frame" everything that will come. The edge pieces of Bible study are memorizing the names of the books of the Bible and knowing the basic information each book contains. While this doesn't have to be done first, the sooner it is done the better.

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2. In puzzle making I often choose a particularly colorful or interesting portion and work on that first. Likewise, God has often used areas of specific interest such as the life of Christ, the Holy Spirit, proofs of the resurrection or the Christian home to draw me into certain books of the Bible in a deeper way.

3. When making a puzzle, I sometimes save the most difficult part—often the sky pieces—for last. And at this point I beg for help from anyone passing through the door. The "sky" of Bible study represents the part that is, for whatever reason, most difficult to understand. I have found for these portions I need extra help. While study tools are helpful every step of the way in Bible study, it is especially important for difficult passages that I take advantage of pertinent books, DVDs, classes or sermons.

Christianity "lite" will never satisfy the deep desire of my heart to know God more. How thankful I am God has given me a desire for His Word. And while it is not easy, as the Holy Spirit guides me into truth, the puzzle of the Bible slowly but surely starts to come together.

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See Out of the Darkness and Into His Light.

See Snail Manna (A Short Story).