Matt Perman:
This is an enlightening distinction that Gordon MacDonald makes in Ordering Your Private World:
In my earliest years of ministry, when this business of mental growth had not yet become a discipline for me, most of my study was what I now call defensive study. By that I mean that I studied frantically simply because I had an upcoming sermon go preach or talk to give. And all my study was centered on the completion of that task.
But later I discovered the importance of something I now call offensive study. This is study that has as its objective the gathering of large clusters of information and insight out of which future sermons and talks, books, and articles may grow. In the former kind of study, one is restricted to one chosen subject. In the latter, one is exploring, turning up truth and understanding from scores of sources. Both forms of study, offensive and defensive, are necessary in my life.
We grow when we pursue the discipline of offensive study.
1 comment:
I can attest to the value of offensive study. Last summer, I was reading Gordon Fee's "Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God" for my own edification. While reading it, I was asked to help lead the discussion in Sunday School one week the teacher was going to be out of town. Days after I was given the topic/passage I was supposed to talk about, I came across a part of that book that tied in directly.
I just finished N.T. Wright's After You Believe -- Why Christian Character Matters and this morning looked at the lesson I'm supposed to cover for a different class in a couple of weeks. It's on Christian ethics. Having just finished Wright's book, I have lots of collateral material to draw from besides the curriculum guide.
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