Biographical Study – Sweeter Than Chocolate

For many left-brained students, “follow your curiosity” may not seem structured enough. For those who want a more structured approach, you might want to choose from one of these methods.

If you’re more of the right-brained type, hold on until the end, where I’ll give some simple adaptations that will make these structured methods of study a little more fun.

This is an excerpt from Sweeter Than Chocolate: Developing a Healthy Addiction to God’s Word. Used by permission.

Character studies are enjoyable and rewarding. I like to begin by looking up the person in a Bible dictionary to get an overview of this person. Then I move to an exhaustive concordance to look up every reference to the person.

Narrative sections should be read as a whole, and not just isolated verses that use the person’s name. So look up a verse and take time to read the whole chapter for surrounding context.

After reading the relevant Bible passages, make a list of events or an outline of the person’s life. Notice any comments the Bible makes about that person and list those separately.

For example, in the New Testament, James spoke of Elijah as a model for prayer (James 5:16-18). That was not a biographical reference, but a commentary on Elijah’s life. Such a commentary gives us reason to look closer at the prayer example of Elijah.

When doing biographical study, decide what life lessons this person learned, especially in their relationship with God. Apply those life lessons to your life in specific ways. Decide how to act on them.