"We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands...Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." (I John 2:3,6)I teach Bible to ninth graders at a Christian School. My specific subject is mainly about teaching them how to take a "ROAD trip" in the Bible. (This acrostic was the idea of one of my colleagues, Dr. Michael Nicholson.) First, they learn how to READ the Bible; second, they learn how to OBSERVE Scripture - who, what, when, where, why, and how; third, they learn how to ANALYZE - context, genre, literary devices, etc.; then they learn how to DO (apply). It is exciting to see them digging into the Scriptures, but I pray that they are not learning these things just to get puffed up with knowledge. The goal for all of us is not just to read and interpret the Bible for the head knowledge, but so that it overflows into our lives to make us more like Jesus. Therefore, as we "Go into all the world...." along the ROAD God has planned for us, we need to be Jesus to others. As I challenged my students the other day to "be Jesus to someone today: your mom or dad, your neighbor, a store clerk..." it was a good reminder to me that to keep the main thing the main thing is to reflect Jesus in everything we do to everyone we meet. As someone has said : "Out theology must become biography."
