Don’t Pull a Muscle Studying the Bible

It’s the new year. Time to dust off your workout equipment and renew those resolutions.

It’s also time for a warning. You have not worked out since last January. Your muscles have atrophied for 11 months.

If you try to lift the heavy weight right off the bat you will hurt yourself.

Start slow, start with the lightweight. Work on technique. Gradually increase your weight and speed. It will take years for you to lift the heaviest weight.

The same goes for Bible study.

You are excited about learning right division and have made a resolution to start big! Great.

You haven’t studied in months or years (or ever?). You are new to studying from the mid-Acts dispensational perspective.

Your spiritual muscles have atrophied, and for years you have been eating a wrong diet of spiritualized sweets!

Be careful about trying to solve every problem when you can’t yet explain the simplest doctrines and are not doing basic spiritual exercises.

“I finally see right division! Now, what about Romans 11 and 2 Corinthians 3?” … oh boy, get the ice pack ready.

When you’re new, leave the heavy weights alone. (I know, you think you can handle them.) Become proficient at the basics before moving on. If you can’t summarize Romans 1-8 from memory, then you shouldn’t be trying to pick up wild olive branches.

It may take years of unlearning and study to relearn the Bible from a new perspective. Take it slow. If you don’t pull a muscle now you are more likely to keep at it for the long haul.

Happy New Year!

Justin “slow and steady” Johnson