Many of us read the Bible every morning. We close the book, pour the coffee, and the day begins. A week later we cannot say what changed. Matt Smethurst, lead pastor of River City Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia, wrote a short guide for The Gospel Coalition on how to study the Bible. His answer to this problem comes in three steps: observation, interpretation and application.

Observation asks what the passage says. Smethurst says this step is not complicated. Read slowly and carefully, and gather the basic facts of who, what, where and when. Interpretation asks what the passage means. Here he points to Luke 24, where the risen Jesus explains the Scriptures to two men and shows that the whole Bible is about him. Once you have interpreted as best you can, he adds, a commentary or Bible dictionary can help. He suggests the ESV Study Bible, the New Bible Commentary and the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology.

Then comes application, which Smethurst calls the ultimate goal of Bible study. In the first two stages you study the text. In the third, he says, "now the text studies you." To quit before applying what you read, he writes, "is like chewing without swallowing." He points to four passages that press the reader from understanding to obedience: Matthew 7:24-27, John 13:17, James 1:22 and 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Each one says the same thing in its own way. Hearing is only the start.

So here is a practical step. The next time you finish a passage, do not close the book yet. Take a pencil and ask Smethurst's application questions. How does the gospel, the news of what God did in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, affect my understanding of this passage? How does this passage help me understand the gospel? How do I need to change my thinking or my living based on what I have learned? Write one answer down. One real change beats ten good intentions.

Then widen the circle. Smethurst also asks how the passage applies to our brothers and sisters in Christ, and how it speaks to our life together as a church. Bring that answer to your small group this week. Carry it to the person who sits beside you on Sunday. Scripture was given to a people, not only to a person.

Smethurst sums it up in three questions. What does the passage say? That is observation. What does it mean? That is interpretation. How should I, or we, respond? That is application. The first two take study. The third takes the rest of the day.

Smethurst's guide grew out of his short book, Before You Open Your Bible, which looked at nine heart postures for approaching God's Word. The guide picks up where that book leaves off: what to do once you begin reading. He opens with a parable about a man who tried to find God's will by opening his Bible and reading the first verse he saw. His finger landed on Matthew 27:5, the verse that tells how Judas died. The point is plain. Scripture read at random, apart from its context, will not teach us well. Smethurst says it is best to work through whole books of the Bible from beginning to end, rather than a "popcorn" approach that bounces from one passage to another.

On interpretation, Smethurst adds that Jesus did not only explain the Scriptures after his resurrection. During his earthly ministry, in John 5:39-40, he told the Bible experts of his day that the very Scriptures they studied so carefully testify about him, yet they refused to come to him for life. Smethurst repeats an old saying that the Old Testament is "Jesus Christ concealed" and the New Testament is "Jesus Christ revealed." From beginning to end, he writes, the storyline of Scripture looks forward to God's redeeming Son. He also adds a caution about study aids: a commentary or Bible dictionary is a supplement, never a replacement for Scripture itself.

Scripture: Matthew 7:24-27, John 13:17, James 1:22, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Luke 24:25-27, John 5:39-40