The point of Bible study is not simply to gather knowledge. It should produce change through the living, active Word of God. The study of God’s Word should help us to savor Scripture as a precious morsel and allow it to ask questions of us, rather than we simply asking questions of it. That’s good advice... hear the Word of God, let it touch your heart and set you up for change, instead of wasting valuable time challenging and questioning everything you read.
Open–hearted Bible study should position us to listen to Jesus' words as if they are being targeted directly at us and consider what His counsel means for our lives. In other words, it should help us to avoid making God in our own image and let Him make us in his. That's what turns an ordinary Bible study into a life-changing one. This is the process God has put in place that leads us to Transformation... being changed by Him for honorable use in His Kingdom. Transformation must be our goal... by His Spirit, not of ourselves.
When the Apostle Paul writes about being "morphed" in Romans 12:2, he gives a command, but in a passive voice. He doesn't say, "Transform yourself"; he says, "Be transformed." We can't make transformation happen ourselves; it is something God does to us. Special conditions must exist to make such transformation possible. So what then is our role in it — personally and in our churches?
1 Corinthians 9:25 says, "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever." Here is the reason many people give up on transformation or accept boundary markers as pseudo-transformation: we expend ourselves trying to be transformed, when the Bible calls us “to train” to be transformed.
There is an enormous difference between trying to do something versus training to do it. Take for example a marathon. How many of us could run a marathon right now? Even if we tried, really, really hard? But many of us could run a marathon eventually, if we trained properly for it.
While I cannot speak Russian, no matter how hard I try, I could be transformed into a fluent Russian-speaker with proper training. I'll need to pass my eyes before a new alphabet over and over. I'll need to recite with my mouth and with my mind a new vocabulary. I’ll need to hear the language spoken by those who are fluent in Russian. I’ll need to hear the tonal inflections of words to properly master pronunciation. Eventually, the training will allow me to become a new speaker of a new language.
Training means arranging life around those activities that enable us to do what we cannot do now, even by extreme effort. Significant human transformation always involves training, not just trying.
Too often in our churches, people hear preachers talk about what an amazing person Jesus is. Certainly that is true, but they leave thinking, I've got to try hard to be like Him. We're unwittingly setting them up for frustration. When the trying proves ineffective, they eventually quit or rely on external trivialities to mimic a sense of being transformed.
Authentic spiritual transformation begins with training, with sacrifice, commitment and discipline. Our teacher is the indwelling Holy Spirit. As we submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit, for training in godliness, we begin to overcome our sinful patterns of behavior.
The purpose of that discipline is always freedom—training only comes by disciplining oneself to be free of the obstacles that hinder spiritual transformation.
