Then What? How does this apply to my life?

Let’s review where we have been. We began by creating a list of questions to ask of the passage we are reading. Then we came up with answers to those questions. Once we have answers, we can begin to ask ourselves how this applies to our lives. Let’s continue with the example from Matthew 26 we have been looking at to illustrate this step.

There was a dinner given in Jesus’ honor at the home of Simon the Leper. People whose lives had been changed by Jesus were there. The dinner was interrupted by Mary, who entered the room and poured a bottle of very expensive perfume on Jesus. She willingly gave to God a prized possession of great value. The question we now ask is, “How does this apply to my life?

How would you answer that question? You could ask what you have given to Jesus to express how much you appreciate what He has done for you. Have you given your time to invest in church ministries or in the lives of people around you? You might ask how much money you have given to church or missions or to simply help someone in need. How much would that be? Have you ever given anything that cost you what Mary’s gift cost her?

It makes personal application so clear when you have first done the work of creating questions and then finding the answers to those questions. When we simply read a passage and then ask how it applies to our lives, we are left to guess or make things up. When we do the work beforehand, the applications become clear.

Once again, the OnTrack will help you develop this skill. Each of the devotional thoughts is based not only on questions we asked about the passage, the answers we found to those questions, but also how we feel we could apply those answers. You will notice that some days there are a few questions after the thought to help you think through how you can further apply what you have just read. Then, the next day, there is a place in your guide for you to write down your own questions, the answers to the questions you are coming up with, and how you can apply the answers you are coming up with from your own study.

Again, the goal is to help you get to the point where you can walk through a passage of Scripture and create your own devotional thoughts based on the questions you come up with, the answers you find to those questions, and the ability to apply them to your own life. But to be able to determine what God is saying in Scripture, we must begin with observation questions, determine the answers to those questions, and then apply those answers to your life.

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