You may know that I love Scripture Journals. I think they are a wonderful addition to our study resources and tools. If you’re not familiar with Scripture Journals from Crossway, let me give you a brief overview.
The Old Testament Scripture Journals are a 27 volume set that sets up the word of God with a unique way to record your thoughts, insights, prayers, notes, and more. The journal is set up with the text of scripture on the left page and a blank, lightly lined page on the right side. The page with the scripture contains an extra wide margins as well. The blank page and the extra wide margins work together to provide us with the opportunity to take copious amounts of notes, record various insights, and connect words, thoughts, and phrases together.
There are several ways to utilize Scripture journals. For one, you can use it in your own personal, devotional time. You can use these journals to really focus in on one book of the Bible at a time and record the ways in which you interact with God and his word. Now one caveat is that you will not be able to cross-reference verses or look up footnotes as that is not the purpose or design of these journals. With that in mind, can I add that this is actually a bit refreshing? I love following cross-references. I love seeing where a certain passage connects with another or several others. But you know, sometimes it’s nice to simply read the text and stay focused on a particular letter. So this is a great way to do just that.
Another way to utilize the journal is to use it in a small group. Have everyone in the group purchase the particular journal your group will be studying and then dig in together. This is a great way to study with others for a number of reasons. For one, everyone in the group will be studying the same translation. As much as I love utilizing various translations, sometimes it’s nice to just rest on one version as a group and dig in. Does anyone else agree that it’s tough to listen to someone read a passage when they are reading from a different translation?! Also, in a small group setting, it’s great to use the same scripture journal because everyone is literally on the same page. We can all see where a particular reference is, we can all stay on the same page, and it really creates a sense of continuity within the group.
Another way to utilize the scripture journals is to use one when your pastor is preaching through a particular book of the Bible. How easy is it to pop out a scripture journal and take your sermon notes as you listen to your pastor week after week after week. And then at the end of the series, you have all of the sermon notes in one location. I think this could be something churches could do for their congregation. At the beginning of a particular series on a book, the church could hand out scripture journals to everyone in the congregation and encourage them to follow along, and take notes together as a body.
Whether you purchase the entire Old Testament Scripture Journal Set, or purchase them one-by-one, I highly recommend this resource to you as it is a unique way for us to dive into the word of God and record all the ways that God impacts our lives through the reading of his word.
