Each week, I find myself sitting in the Fellowship Hall at the church, looking into the faces of some of the most eager disciples I’ve seen in a long time. This week, I really allowed myself to relish the energy and enthusiasm of these folks. They are really finding a deeper meaning in their discipleship.
And its because of SOAP. (If you don’t know what SOAP is, stop now, and find the link here on the site.
You’ll be glad you did.)
Instead of reading and studying to discover the smallest of the details, SOAP is designed to be more of a devotional reading. Rather than focusing on reading the text, we allow the text to “read†us. Instead of mastering the text, we’re allowing the text to guide us in the Master’s footsteps.
Some of my colleagues are clucking their tongues and shaking their heads. But I’m confident that God still speaks to people who don’t have advanced degrees. Even if they don’t have a commentary, or a Bible dictionary.
Are those tools good? Yes. Are they absolutely necessary every time a Bible is opened?
Hardly.
Its time again for the church to read the Bible with more in mind that just trying to critically examine every word of it. The things that were taught in seminary are valuable, but the truth is that much of the course content isn’t for common consumption. Not because they can’t do it, but for the same reason that there are some people who climb telephone poles while the rest of us are quite successful with just picking up the phone.
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