The Best Answers and Insights

If you've been involved in brainstorming sessions with a group, you know that it's very rare for the best ideas to surface immediately. And you might have to go through some "kinda weird" ideas to get to the best ones. It seems we have to generate a significant quantity of ideas before we can figure out which ones are the best.

Pay attention to this phenomenon when you are teaching group lessons or leading group discussions. When you ask a question that does not have a single right answer (e.g., "What might have this character been thinking about?"), don't be satisifed with the first answer that comes. Be a patient teacher, and get several answers.

Don't worry if some seem "weird" or outlandish -- if you as the teacher/leader make any criticism of the person who answered you can forget about future participation from that person! It's appropriate to test answers against what's in the text. But do this gently, and with respect.

If you are willing to work at this, you'll see some amazing progress in people's ability to learn from Scripture. Encourage them to be disatisfied with only one answer, even when they're studying on their own.

Note: you may need to plan to cover less material in a lesson. That's fine -- your objective is not to blast through X volume of material to make you look good, but to develop people and see God work to change their lives!

Also, pay attention to this phenomenon when you're doing in depth personal Bible study. You want to meditate on passages for some time. New insights will surface (and some won't be right when you test them against the rest of Scripture). It's rare that your best insights surface immediately.

My book outlines a number of strategies for in-depth Bible study that will help you. For example, take a short book like Ephesians and read it every day for a month. You'll hit some dry days, but you'll also be amazed at what you begin to understand that you would miss if you only read through it once or twice a year.