Margie Lesson
December 5, 1999
Dear Friends:
About 10 years ago, while I was living at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Charlottesville, Virginia, I was going through a period in my life when Bible knowledge for the sake of Bible knowledge itself was very important for me. If I led a Bible study, it might not include one exhortational point during the whole class.
For at least one person in the class, Sister Marjory Morris, this was not acceptable. Margie let me know that every Bible class should contain some lesson that teaches or uplifts us to serve our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus. Margie said that Bible knowledge is important, but the most important aspect of Bible study is that it changes our life to reflect the character of God and Christ. Each week, we would get to the end of our class and we would have to discuss the application of our lesson to our lives.
We jokingly referred to this mandatory part of our Bible study as the “Margie Lesson.”
As the years have passed, my family moved away from Charlottesville, but I have never forgotten to include a “Margie Lesson” in my Bible study. Time has shown the wisdom in her insistence of applying the Scripture in practical ways to life.
The Bible says concerning itself that it is for “teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16,17 NIV) If this passage in 2 Timothy can be taken at face value, then each Bible passage must have application to our lives. Each passage must include a Margie lesson.
There are certainly varying degrees of difficulty in discerning the exhortation in certain passages. However, it seems to me that until we understand the exhortation in a particular passage of Scripture, we really don’t understand that passage at all. Until we know what the passage teaches, rebukes, corrects and trains in righteousness so that we can do good works, we still have more work to do.
Sister Marjory Morris died today leaving a legacy of children and grandchildren who learned how to apply the Bible to their lives. Our love and thoughts go out to them at their loss. I look forward to seeing Sister Margie in the Kingdom of God and telling her once again how important her lesson has been to me.
Have a great week!
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