As the fall 2022 semester was coming to an end, I reflected on what my students learned over the past 14 weeks in our Biblical Interpretation and Spiritual formation course. Genre-based hermeneutics woven together with how God’s truth is taken to heart and lived out prompted two versions of collected thoughts shared with my students. Here are both:

How to have an unfair advantage in life with absurd regularity:

  • Know God’s story and his plan for all humanity from the OT narratives.

  • Know that God cares about your relationship with him and yours with others from the Law.

  • Know the connections between your emotions and thoughts about God in the Psalms.

  • Know the sovereignty and guidance of God in the Wisdom literature.

  • Know the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the worship and justice of God in the Prophets.

  • Know God Incarnate, Jesus Messiah, and his kingdom in the Gospels.

  • Know God’s gift to you of a Spirit-infused community in the Acts.

  • Know how to flourish and guard that community in the Epistles.

  • Know Jesus’ victory and the impact that truth has on how you live today in Revelation.

How to mess up your relationship with God and others and miss your calling in life all at the same time:

  • Dismiss God’s story and his plan for all humanity from the OT narratives.

  • Dismiss that God cares about your relationship with him and yours with others from the Law.

  • Dismiss the connections between your emotions and thoughts of God in the Psalms.

  • Dismiss the sovereignty and guidance of God in the Wisdom literature.

  • Dismiss the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the worship and justice of God in the Prophets.

  • Dismiss God Incarnate, Jesus Messiah, and his kingdom in the Gospels.

  • Dismiss God’s gifting you with a Spirit-infused community in the Acts.

  • Dismiss how to flourish in and guard that community in the Epistles.

  • Dismiss Jesus’ victory and the impact that truth has on how you live today in Revelation.

Take a second look at the image that accompanies this post. Is your Bible open or closed? More importantly, how will you let God transform you through his Word and Spirit as you Read, Think, Pray, and Live?