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"Business Solutions" for Personal Bible Study

“Taking care of business” is a phrase we hear quite often in our contemporary society. There is corporate business, large and medium size business, small business and home business. With all of the emphasis on business in our culture, “business solutions” are sought after on every level. (Do a google search of “business solutions” to see for yourself!) For the believer, there is also the “business” of the Christian life Are there any analogies from the business world with the business our Christian life? How are we taking care of that “critical” business? What “business solutions” might we implement on a daily basis to help us be more effective and efficient in the “business” of our Christian life?

One contemporary business author states, “How you see your business is your vision for your business.”1 This statement could have application to every Christian and the “business” of their Christian life. How do we see our Christian lives? What “business solutions” might we implement?

Out of the many important and critical aspects of the Christian life let’s focus on just one – Personal Bible study, or “PBS” as I like to refer to it. Each believer has the individual, personal responsibility to develop some approach, method, system, schedule, etc. of his or her personal Bible study. How we “see” our approach will impact its actual development. Quoting again from the business author, “You don’t just see it (ie, your vision for your business) as it is, or even as you’d like it to be.  You see it off in the future – what it’s going to be.” 2 So, how do you see your Bible study, not just today but “off in the future – what it’s going to be?” Is there a “business solution” available today for this aspect of the business of the Christian life?

Most believers would probably have similar, traditional answers to that question. Some of those answers might include topical Bible studies, inductive Bible studies, biographical Bible studies, book Bible studies, etc. And, they are right. However, the results and the effectiveness of those methods or approaches to Bible study are related to the resources one has with which to implement them. Bible study resources today could be identified in two categories – print resources and digital resources. Many of us were taught the above approaches to Bible study with print resources, and we have benefited greatly by them. However, some of us have been exposed to a new “paradigm” of Bible study using digital resources (to use a contemporary business buzz word!). Both print and digital resources have the same requirements for the learner – reading the text, understanding the reading, seeing application of the meaning of the text to our life, and then through God’s enablement, integrating that eternal truth into our lives.

Unlike print resources, digital resources offer contemporary believers amazing benefits in their Bible study that have not been available before. There are several digital Bible study programs available, but one digital resource in particular has been of great benefit to my family and me over the past decade. That, of course, is the digital resource of the Logos Bible Software. Logos is a “feature rich” Bible software program. Each software feature offers benefits to one’s Bible study. (Mention of those features and benefits would exceed the space limits of this essay!) Understanding the features of the software and then seeing the related benefits of each feature helps the contemporary believer to develop their personal Bible study as never before. Logos Bible Software, built on the Libronix Digital Library System, is a powerful “business solution” that will aid today’s believer in taking care of “their” business of PBS.

How is the ‘business” of your Christian life? Have you experienced or considered this new paradigm for Bible study? Have you utilized the power of digital resources? How are you “taking care of the business” of your personal Bible study?

1. Fire Someone Today, (Nashville: Nelson Business0 2006, p22
2. Ibid.

Submitted by David F. Capetz