Mike’s Musings ….

PUT YOURSELF IN THE STORY

   Because of a visual problem, reading for me in elementary school was difficult. Comprehension was impossible because I could not read enough of the story to get the sequence, let alone the “meat” of the story. Thanks to Dad and a devoted and caring teacher, and a summer of extremely hard work, the vision problem was corrected, and I learned to read and retain what I read. One of the “tricks of the trade” the teacher taught me was to “put myself in the story.” It made it more interesting and because I “lived” it by being “in the story,” I retained what I had read!

   Through the years, I’ve endeavored to teach bible studies with the same approach and have highly recommended it to those who want to preach and those who simply want to study and gain a greater benefit from their study. By imagining yourself as one of the “main characters” in the reading, you find God’s word being spoken directly to you; you find yourself experiencing the same excitement, the same blessings, and yes, at times, the same abuse from those opposed to your faithfulness. You find yourself thinking as they thought and reacting as they reacted.

   Reading aloud also helps! That way, you not only see the words with your eyes, but you also hear them with your ears, and being a part of the narrative, you easily find yourself in an environment as close to that reality as possible without being there! As my teacher would say, “It lets the story come alive for you, and you are a part of that living!” It agrees with Paul’s commandment of Colossians 3:16.

   The stories of the Old Testament become more memorable. In the reading of Acts, the struggles of the earliest brethren are more appreciated and understood. Reading the epistles becomes more direct when the reader puts himself in the story and reads it aloud as he would a letter directed to himself from one who genuinely cares for his soul! Scripture is personal (2 Corinthians 13:5) as well as public (Matthew 28:19-20). But unless the INDIVIDUAL allows this word to dwell richly within him in all wisdom (Colossians 3:16) his teaching of that word will not be effective: YOU HAVE TO LIVE WHAT YOU PREACH, AND THE BEST WAY TO DO THAT IS PUT YOURSELF INTO THE STORY OF THE GOSPEL!

   I muse on how interested folks get in various things of this old world and realize that if they put as much effort into the understanding of God’s word as they do these other things, what a much more righteous world we would have! Oh, I pray that we ALL would put ourselves into the truth of God’s word, obey it, and realize how blessed we are to be TRULY a part of HIS STORY of redemption!