CHIMPANZEE?

We can show the picture of a Chimpanzee to a child. The child will get some idea but won’t know about the actual size, where it lives, what it eats….
We can take the child to a zoo and show the chimpanzee in a cage. The child gets better idea about the chimpanzee. If we take the child to a forest and show chimpanzees in their actual living habitat, the child will get much better idea. That becomes an eyewitness experience.

By reading books on Chimpanzees, we will be able to get lots more information’s. We can search for more information in the internet. A good student will write down all the important points in a notebook or in papers. Writing down all the important points is important in any serious study. Afterwards we can write about Chimpanzees, what we saw, read, or understood. That can become an article and others will get lots of information. Some photos or videos also could be included.

Chimpanzee is a monkey. This is correct and is a very short insight. If we add few more points like where it lives, what it eats, how long it lives, and how big is its size. That insight becomes better. Depending on all that we have understood, everything together can be developed into a chapter or even into a book..

Similarly in our Bible reading and study, we need to read and study the portion sincerely and seriously. Read again and again till we understand it properly. We need to observe all the people, places, incidents,.. let us ask some questions to the passage- who, what, where, when, why, whom..Let us write down all the points. This is proper observation.

Then, let us try to understand the meaning of what is written or what happened. What was in the mind of the author or speaker or what the listeners or readers understood. This is interpretation.

Finally we need to ask, how can I apply this in my life? What is God teaching me from this passage? This is application. God expects us to apply what His Word teach us. This will help us to grow in Him.

When we attend a programme with around 100 people, we might have talked to most of them, but one or few people might come closer to us. We enjoyed talking to them and they become our friends. Afterwards we remember their names, places and what they talked. Similarly some verses or a passage might speak to us. Sharing that new understanding with others is called sharing insight.

After a visit to a Zoo, even a child can share what he or she saw and understood in his/ her own words. Others understand what the child speaks. He doesn’t have to be a Zoologist to share what he saw. In the same way, we don’t have to be theologians to share what we understand from the Bible.

When we understand the Bible by studying it properly, we enjoy sharing that with others. Then our understanding becomes more important than the insights of others. Seeing a living Chimpanzee is more valuable than seeing hundred pictures of it.

So let us study God’s Word seriously, sincerely and systematically. Let us share what the Lord taught us to others in our words. Let us glorify the LORD through our sharing and bring others closer to the Lord.

Rev.C.V.Abraham