How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

How do you study God’s Word? One verse at a time.

Though I’m a fan of reading through the Bible, for study purposes, one bite can make a meal. 

One of my early assignments in seminary was to take one verse and come up with fifty observations. The next week, I had to take the same verse—and come up with fifty more.

And I did it. 

You can too. 

Here’s a bite for each day this week.

Monday: Choose a verse. Make it the memory verse for the week and get double duty from it. For today, I’m choosing John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Tuesday: Read it. Over and over again. Change which word you emphasize each time. 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Wednesday: Break it down. Now’s the time to use that sentence diagramming from middle school. Look at nouns, verbs, phrases, and modifiers. 

Thursday: Be a journalist. Ask who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Friday: Look for other clues like repetition, opposites, comparisons, and contrasts. Underline words that need defining. 

Saturday: Put your name in where appropriate.

Sunday: Wrap up the week with a time of sharing. What did the Holy Spirit emphasize with each family member? What takeaways resulted?

Activities:

On a chalkboard or whiteboard, write the verse for the week. 

Have each family member choose a colored marker or chalk. Let them add their observations. 

Plan something special for the person with the greatest number of observations as well as something for those who memorize it.

Take a bite out of Scripture this week. You’ll be amazed at how one bite can satisfy.