Bible Study is More Than Facts
"What is the greatest commandment?" How would you answer this question?
Out of the 613 laws found in Jewish tradition, Jesus answered it this way: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the great and first commandment (Matthew 22:37–38)."
Love.
How do we know we love God? What evidence is there that you have a love, passion, and devotion to God? What evidence is there that we love anything? I love my wife. I love basketball. I love ice cream (obviously, not all on the same levels). But one of the ways that you can tell that I love these things is because I spend time enjoying these things. If you were to ask for "evidence" that I love my wife, I would probably point you to the countless hours I spend enjoying life with her or the plethora of ways I grow in my understanding of her (1 Peter 3:7). I would say the same thing about my relationship with God. How do you know that I love him? The countless hours of early mornings and late nights I spend communing with him or the different ways I've grown in my understanding of him.
My love for God and his word is more than a "head" thing. It's more than just learning a bunch of facts about him. It's about growing in a relationship with him. This means growing in my affection for him with all that I am. All my mind, all my affection, all my will.
And one of the ways I grow deeper in my affection for him is through getting to know him through his word. We see this passion in the Psalms.
More to be desired are [your words] than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Psalm 19:10
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
Psalm 42:1–2
When it comes to marriage, I need to have more than love for the thought of my wife. I need to love my wife. In the same way, I cannot just love the thought of God. I need to love God. And one of the ways we commune with God is through his word. And we should love him with “all our mind,” getting to know him (accurately). “All our heart,“ growing in our love for him. And “all our soul,“ with every fiber of our existence.
