Learning is key to doing, right? In this helpful post, Dr Donna Hart, PhD, shares five great ways she has learned to apply biblical truth to her life. Her article appeared first here at her website. It is reprinted with permisison.
In our culture today, I hear people saying I really liked this class or that Bible study, but then I wonder why I don’t see them applying what they are learning? Are we becoming a culture of people who are passive learners?
Bernard Shaw once remarked: “If you teach a man anything, he will never learn.” Shaw was right. Learning is an active process.
Learning by Doing
We learn by doing.
God’s Word affirms this truth. It says in James 1:21-24,
Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Learning
To help me become a doer of the Word and apply what I read in the Bible, I follow these five principles of learning. I recommend them to you too.
- Develop a deep, driving desire to master the principles.
- Read the material more than once.
- Stop and ask yourself how you can apply each principle.
- Apply the principle at every opportunity.
- Ask yourself what mistakes have I made? What improvements do I need to make? What lessons have I learned for the future?
I remember when I first became a believer someone said something to me about my relationship with the Lord that was very hurtful. But I was not sure that what the person said was true to God’s Word. So this gave me a determination to know the truth of the Bible.
Around this time, I was also listening to David Jeremiah on the radio. He encouraged everyone to pray that God would draw them into His Word and that He would give them a hunger and a thirst for it that would never end. Dr Jeremiah encouraged listeners to pray that God would reveal himself from the pages of the Word.
This became my prayer, and one that I recommend to you, because God is delighted to answer. May you feed on Word and may it be sweet as honey to you.
