[Darris McNeely] Obey. We’re at point number 13 in our series that we’ve been working our way through, in keys to understanding the Bible, and we’re talking today about obeying God’s word and proving it right as a key to understanding the word of God. And it all comes up and is summed up by this one word, “obey”. You want to truly understand God’s word? Ultimately, you have to move beyond study, you have to move beyond just reading it on a daily basis – all of which is important – you have to move beyond the meditating and the thinking about it, or the taking notes about it, or searching into other commentaries and Bible dictionaries and other helps to understand certain parts of the Bible – ultimately, if we’re really going to understand God’s word, we have got to obey it to prove it right, and then reach a level of understanding that no other method will take us to. We have to obey God’s word.

This is told to us in many different ways. In 1 John chapter 1 – 1 John, actually 3:22, it says, “Whatever we ask we receive, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22). We keep His commandments. We obey God’s commandments. Through that, we learn and we receive things from God. And one of the things we can receive is a better understanding of His word.

Again, obeying God’s word takes a major step, whether it’s the Sabbath, whether it’s tithing, and proving that God’s word brings a better way of life, brings peace of mind, brings blessings. When we do that, we’re proving God’s word.

I just recently returned from a study tour of Italy with another group of Bible students, and the theme of the whole tour was to go through the Roman world and understand the context of the Bible in which it was written, as a means of understanding it. It was all very fascinating, added a lot of new insights into my understanding of the Scriptures, but one day I was thinking about it, and I realized, you know, context of the Bible, to study the Bible, really means to put yourself truly into it, and the best way that we can do it today is by obeying the Scripture – by living it the way Jesus lived it, the way the apostle Paul taught it and expected the church in the first century to live it. We don’t live in the Roman world today. We don’t live in the first century conditions. We live in the 21st century. The context for us today is our world and our time. But if you really want to study the Bible in context, live it. Obey it. Obey God’s word. That’s the ultimate proof to truly come to a level of understanding of God’s word that no other form or fashion or study can take us.

That’s BT Daily. Join us next time.