Fat on Doctrine and Low on Exercise

Considering Our Time Spent in Bible Study Vs. Application

You May Not Need Another Bible Study

The last thing some Christians need is another Bible class, another online Bible study, another Christian conference, or another sermon!

While this might sound borderline heretical, I think it’s fair to say many churchgoers are fat on doctrine and low on exercise. They don’t need to hear a preacher reaffirm a doctrinal point they’ve held for 30 years. They don’t need to listen to a conference speaker restate the unifying beliefs of their brotherhood for the 118th time. They don’t need to have their ears tickled by a Bible class teacher who loves talking about why their denomination is right and all the others are wrong.

Some in the church need to get up from their padded pew, where they’ve been doctrinally feasting for years, exit the church building, and participate in the exercise of application.

Yes, it is important to understand the Bible, the nature of God, and the structure of the Church, but we will not change the world by sitting in buildings with other Christians and preaching our beliefs on repeat.

How Much Can We Consume?

Food is meant to be fuel to the body, but what happens when we eat but don’t exercise? We become unhealthy, right?

The Bible was written with the intention of the reader applying its principles. Christians who consume but do not apply will grow spiritually unhealthy.

Churches with mature members ought to think of how they can redirect some of their time away from repetitive teaching and spend more time applying the principles they’ve learned.

Mature Christians should spend less time and less money finding ways to hear their favorite preachers talk about topics they already grasp. These Christians need to spend more time and more money in the application of their knowledge in their local communities.  

We aren’t reaching the world from our church buildings and conference centers; the last 50 years is evidence.

Spiritual Comfort Food

Question: Have you ever comforted yourself with food, most likely junk food? You know you shouldn’t eat the junk food; you know it won’t fix anything, but you do it anyway to make yourself feel better in the moment.

Is it possible that we attend and host Bible studies, sometimes on topics we’re already well studied on, not because we need the information, but because we want to give ourselves something “spiritual” to do (spiritual comfort food), because we don’t want to do the hard thing of exiting our buildings and engaging with the world?

Good things can become bad things when we do them to the neglect of necessary things.

The exercise of our faith in the world is not easy and it is often uncomfortable, but it is necessary!