How does Bite-Size Bible Study® work?

“I’m actually looking forward to this,” he said as we drove toward the mountains.

I tried to conceal my excitement.

Of course we always look forward to a weekend away in the mountains, but what he was referring to this time was Family Life’s “Marriage Weekend Getaway” – a marriage conference, complete with all the feels.

After a decade of marriage, it was the first time the words looking forward could be used in the same sentence as “Mike” and “marriage conference.” And it did not disappoint.

The conference was like a four-course meal. Rich, relevant content was dished up, followed by time to process my own response, and then – my favorite part– discussing it with my spouse and hearing his response.

Many conversations with Mike in our current season of life are like ground beef: practical and necessary, but not the most exciting. Do you want to bathe the kids or do the dishes? Can you pick up milk on the way home? What’s this week looking like?

These kinds of conversations must be had, but they don’t really get anyone going. Don’t get me wrong – I love ground beef. Its low cost and flexibility make it a staple in my kitchen. 

But after a while, I long for something different. I want more.

The conference was like a fine steak in a ground beef season. The content and speakers were great, but they alone weren’t what made the weekend so wonderful. Neither were the conversations we had as a couple.

It was the combination: truth, time, and the chance to talk about it.

This combination got me thinking about Bible study.

What if we had truth from God’s Word, time to reflect on it, and a chance to talk with Him?

I used to plow through Bible studies because I thought the goal was to complete them. I wanted a spiritual “gold star” and I thought it was waiting for me at the finish line of filled blanks and full pages. But the goal of Bible study isn’t simply to complete a workbook, just like the goal of the marriage conference wasn’t to complete the conference. There were no stars after the last session.

The conference would have been much less powerful if I had sat beside Mike, taken notes, and answered all the questions, but never actually dialogued with him. If I had told him all my plans to be the perfect wife instead of enjoying being with him, I would have missed the point.

The goal of the conference was to foster oneness in marriage. The goal of Bible study is to foster intimacy with God. In His Word, we are invited to get to know Him, be reminded of how much He loves us, and learn how to love Him back.

Scripture says that, through Christ, we can know the Truth and be set free. The goal of Bite-Size Bible Study® is to give you simple truths that transform, time to digest them, and a framework for an ongoing conversation with the One who wrote it.

Because we can know through experience Truth– the person– and He sets us free!