As we focus this month on nurturing our whole selves - physical, emotional, and spiritual - I would argue that the spiritual is most important. It is the place from which all others will flow. As Proverbs reminds us, “Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life” (Proverbs 4:23, CSB).
What is your personal Bible study like right now? Do you feel fulfilled and drawn closer to the Lord through time in scripture? Barely squeaking out 10 minutes of Bible reading in a week? Stuck in a passage that you can’t for the life of you understand? This week’s interview is with a woman who would relate to all of these sentiments: Millicent Gillogly.
Living in community means we get to see how other believers live out a Christ centered life. When we see other women prioritizing and valuing the study of God’s Word, it helps us to see how it can fit into our lives. Interviewing women in our church about their Bible study has given me some great encouragement in that: 1) There are creative ways to keep God’s Word in front of us during busy seasons, and 2) Many women in our church take the study of God’s Word seriously.
This summer I got to interview several amazing women from our church that are in different life stages. I had asked the blog team if we could do some digging into the way women are studying the Bible at CRBC. There was a selfish motive in asking to do this as I have a two month old and need ideas as to how I can effectively study God’s Word in my new season. It is hard when we have life shifts, to either stick with our current study or to find an effective new process.
There are so many people in our world today that are struck by a single question: Who is Jesus? Was he simply a good teacher or was he a lunatic, a prophet of some sort, a simple carpenter from Nazareth, or was He really the Word made flesh that dwelt among us (John 1:14)? The answer to that question is the basis for our beliefs. As Christians, we believe He was the Word, fully God, yet fully man, and this satisfied the blood covenant He fulfilled through His death on the cross (Romans 8:3-4). Countless authors, scholars, philosophers, and everyday people have attempted to explain away the Person of Jesus. It is beyond their perception, or beliefs, that God would even come to approach us (and not the other way around) as a humble, human child that grew in age and wisdom (Luke 2:40).
I knew some important things about my husband before we ever went on a date. We had mutual friends, so I heard about their impressions of and interactions with him. I knew about Brian, but I didn’t really know him until we spent a lot of time alone together. I listened to what he said and watched his behavior. Getting to know God has been similar.
Satan would love the above scenario because he loves to produce shallow bible studies and surface level conversation between Christian women. He loves to provoke subtle sins (1 John 3:8). He loves to lead women astray from their pure devotion to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3)…
