SECOND QUARTER 2026
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #5
MAY 2, 2026
"HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE".

 

“Satan well knows that all whom he can lead to neglect prayer and the searching of the Scriptures, will be overcome by his attacks….No man is safe for a day or an hour without prayer. Especially should we ask the Lord for wisdom to understand His word…never losing sight of our dependence upon God. —Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 519,  From chapter 32, Snares of Satan.

Reading this quote should make any Christian sit up in their seats, especially those that don’t have a constant prayer & Bible study life. The quote highlights the vital importance of our relationship with God, the negative results if that is ignored, what should be the main focus of our prayers, and where true salvation is grounded. Yet many might say, “I read my Bible every day,” thus believing they are safe from the dangers mentioned above.  But the question is, why do you read your Bible? Do you rejoice when you read it? Or do you think the Bible is boring with the same old stories over and over again?

The statistics and research show few Christians pray and read the Bible every day. Those of us that do must ask ourselves what are the motivations and intentions behind why we do it? I have a sermon called Board Certified Christians, where I explain how many of us just want to know the bare minimum requirements to get to heaven and how to live our Christian lives. Others have the attitude of Jeremiah 15:16: “Your words were found and I ate them, and your words were to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.” Ask yourself: When you open the Bible, do you rejoice in it saying to yourself, “Oh, I’m gonna spend time with God!”? Or are you thinking, “This is what I need to do to have eternal life so let me go ahead and get it over.”?

Here’s a little illustration. You wake up in the morning, “Hey guardian angel, I’m opening the Bible. I’m going to read the Word of God. So give me my salvation points for today.” And then you pray, “Oh Lord, You know I’m very busy. I don’t have a lot of time for this, so please give me a very short chapter to read, like Psalms 117.” Why Psalms 117? Because it’s the shortest chapter in the Bible—two verses. Then you open your Bible, and since you haven’t opened it in so long, instead of being on Psalms 117, you’re on Psalms 119, which is the longest chapter in the Bible. You complain, “Lord, I don’t have time for all this. You know I’m too busy.”

That’s how many of us treat the Bible. It’s boring to us. This is what we do. You open the Bible, and let’s say you land on the story of David and Goliath. You’re complaining, “Again! How many times have I read the story of David and Goliath? I know what the story is about. Since I was a child, I heard it in Sabbath school or in Sunday school. I’ve read it before. I’ve seen the movies. I’ve seen the plays. I’ve listened to sermons on David and Goliath. I know what the story is about. Why do I have to read it again?” We’re bored by the Bible. And here’s the point—the key to your time with God is your attitude. That’s the key. What is your attitude? There are a number of things that come into play, but primarily, our attitude towards Bible study.

A few years ago, the Holy Spirit taught me this simple method to understand why we Christians have no passion or desire for God and to share the Gospel with others. I call it the High Five Test.

1. Why don’t I have a desire and passion to know and share God? 
2. Because I don’t love Him. Why don’t I love Him? 
3. Because I don’t know Him. Why don’t I know Him? 
4. Because I don’t spend time Him. Why don’t I spend time with Him? 
5. Because I have other priorities in my life.  

Let’s flip this same equation over and notice the difference.

1. What happens when you make God your priority? 
2. You’ll make time for God in prayer and Bible study. When you make time for God—
3. You will then get to know God. When you know God—
4. You will then fall in love with God. When you fall in love with God—
5. You will then have a passion and desire to know Him more and share that with others!

You see, I’ve been studying the Bible almost every day for 18 years since I became a Christian. And every time I try to come with the right attitude and the right time frame, which means I’m not in a rush. It is time for me and God, and nobody messes with my time with God. Imagine if we had the same attitude for God as we have with our quality time with our family and loved ones? 

I’m the type of person whose mind is running all over the place all the time, so it’s very hard for me to focus and concentrate. So I need the right environment, the right music, time with no rush. I like to put instrumental hymns, like piano and cello, in the background. It creates the right mood and mindset, like if I’m on a date. You make sure everything is perfect and you’re focused. You want to make sure everything is right. I need that, because if not, my mind is everywhere. In 18 years, every time I come with the right environment, the right atmosphere, the right attitude, the right time frame, and I open the Bible, I’m always blessed. Always! I can’t tell you one time that I have not come with the right mindset, the right attitude, the right environment, and God has not blessed our time together. 

Now, I’ll be honest with you: I don’t always have the right attitude, the right environment, and the right atmosphere. Preparing to spend time with God is something that you have to pre-plan. But this is what happens with the same story when I open the Bible and the timing is right, the atmosphere is right, the environment is right, my attitude is right. I’ll say: “Oh, David and Goliath. I’ve read this story so many times. I’ve heard it. I’ve seen it. I know what the story is about. But, I wonder what blessing I’m going to receive today,Lord? I wonder what gem, what have I not seen in this story before that You’re gonna bless me with today?” Because as we spiritually mature and grow, the Bible becomes deeper and deeper spiritually. And what used to be basic truths, we start to see on a deeper level, in a deeper dimension, with deeper application. But that only happens when we come with the right attitude and the right atmosphere.

Now if I were to share with you one Bible verse that explains the right mindset, the right attitude to have when you come to the Word of God, what would it be? I can give you a litany of Bible verses, but I’m gonna give you the one that I believe best explains how to study the Bible. And listen to me—if you do this from now on I promise you your time with God will be transformed. I’m saying it because I have applied this in my own life, and I’ve shared it with other people and it always brings a blessing.

What’s that Bible verse? 2 Corinthians 3:18. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Let’s break this down. “Unveiled face.” What does unveiled mean? Taking off the veil. I have a question: if you have a veil over your eyes, can you see? No!. So it says, “with unveiled face, beholding or contemplating as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.” Question: where do we contemplate the glory of the Lord? In the Old Testament, where was the glory of the Lord contemplated? In the Most Holy Place in Sanctuary. How about in the New Testament—where is the glory of the Lord? It’s Jesus Christ. He is the glory of the Lord. But think about this—right now the literal Sanctuary is not here on Earth, and Jesus Christ is not here in flesh and bones. So the question is, where today, in present time, do we behold or contemplate as in a mirror the glory of the Lord? It’s in the Word of God!

You see, the main purpose of the Bible is to contemplate the glory of God. Every story from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 is about the glory of God. What is our job? To go seek and find that glory. We must take every story, every chapter, every book and say “Lord, I want to see your glory…I want to see Christ and your amazing plan of salvation!” That’s the purpose of the Book. It is not so that we can look like good Christians, so that people can say, “Oh, that must be a Christian.” The purpose that God has given us His Word is to contemplate His glory. I promise you, if you have a boring study life, apply this principle and it  will transform your time with God.

Let me give you an example. Oh, let me show you this quote I found last year talking about 2 Corinthians 3:18. Notice this: “Many today have veils upon their faces. These veils are sympathy with the customs and practices of the world, which hide from them the glory of the Lord.” —Ellen G. White, Testimonies, Vol. 6, p. 146.

You see, we come to the Bible, and it’s boring to us because we are more focused and more engaged in the world and its practices. So we come to the Bible and wonder why it is boring. You’ve been eating pizza, hamburgers, and chocolate all week, and then you come to the Word and are given carrots & celery—you’re gonna be thinking, “Uh, this is lame and tasteless.” But when we come to behold the glory of God, our lives will be transformed. 

Here’s the problem that we have. Number one, we are too dependent on preachers. I’ll say it again. We are too dependent on preachers! Don’t get me wrong, I listen to preachers all the time. I have a number of preachers in Spanish and in English that I like to listen to, and I like how they break down the Word. But they do not substitute for my time with God. They can add to it, they can inspire me, and I can give me good insight, but my personal time with God is number one, número uno. And so one of our problems is that we’re too dependent on somebody else telling us how wonderful God is, but we don’t know Him personally. And the Bible tells me that God wants to speak to us personally. God wants to reveal His glory to us. Think about this: the King of the universe, the Creator of all the universe, wants to have a relationship with you personally, one on one, and reveal His glory to you.

And you know how I know God wants to do that? It’s very simple—Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and the sea,” And then it says the Holy Spirit was hovering over the earth, and then it says, “God said.” What does it say? “God said.” Two words. If God said, that means God spoke. Why do you and I speak? To communicate. And why do we communicate? Because either we want somebody to know something that we know, or we want to learn or get information from somebody. So when the Bible says in Genesis chapter 1, right off the bat, that God created everything, and the next thing it says is that God spoke, what is it saying? That God wants to communicate with you and me. He’s speaking because He wants us to know Him. He’s yearning for a relationship with you and me. That’s the greatest desire of the heart of God—to have an intimate, quality fellowship relationship with each and every one of us everyday in the same way we love to spend time with our loved ones.

But as I mentioned one of the problems is this:—we’re too dependent on somebody else telling us about God, and number two, we are content with a superficial understanding of the Word of God. We’re dismissive, “Yeah, just give me the basics. I don’t need to know everything.” We are content with superficial knowledge and understanding of the Word of God when God wants to take us so much deeper and so much further.

Look at this quote I found: “As long as we are content with our limited knowledge, we are disqualified to receive valuable revelations of truth. The church to whom God has entrusted the treasures of His truth must be converted.” — Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, Feb. 4, 1890.

The church, to whom God has entrusted the treasures of His truth, is what? Unconverted!! If you’re content with a limited knowledge of the Word of God, then you are not converted to God. Wow! That’s what it’s saying there. If you say, “I don’t want to go deeper, I just want enough so I can get my brownie points and go to heaven” that’s an unconverted heart. God forgive us if we have a time serving attitude. Drive us to seek first Your Kingdom and righteousness.

Here’s a question—how do you know if you’re on the right track with your relationship with God? How do you know if your relationship, your prayer life, and your study time are where they need to be, or if they are moving in the right direction? How many of you want to know? Ready for this? How do we know if our relationship is on the right track with Jesus? And the answer is, you don’t want your time with God to come to an end. In the same way, when you spend time with the people you love, you don’t want it to come to an end. That shows you’re on the right track. 

Now, here’s another question. Why does God want us to see His glory? It says in 2 Corinthians 3:18,  “With unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord… we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Why does God want us to contemplate His glory? So He can transform us our characters, our minds, our thoughts, our feelings, and our emotions. The Bible is the instrument that God has given us to see His glory, and the purpose of seeing the glory of God is that He wants to transform each and every one of us into the image of Christ!

Thus, my brothers and my sisters, if you are not in the Word and you are not contemplating the glory of God, you can’t be transformed. Romans 10:17 says that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word.”How are we going to expect to grow in faith if we’re not using the instrument that God gave us for that faith to grow? The purpose of this book is to see the glory of God, and the purpose of seeing the glory of God is to be transformed.

And what else does seeing the glory of God do? Romans 2:4: “The goodness of God leads us to repentance.”  What is the message in Laodicea? Repent. Why is it that we’re not repenting? Because we’re blinded to our sins. Why are we blinded to our sins? Because of our self-righteousness. So what does God do? He gives us the Bible to show His glory, and when we contemplate the goodness of God we see God’s glory versus our sins, repenting and thus being transformed.

That’s why the Bible says “as in a mirror.” Because when we open the Bible and we see the glory of God, guess what we simultaneously and automatically see—our selfishness, our pridefulness, and our sinfulness. Because it is by seeing the glory of God that we contemplate who we really are. That’s why it’s a mirror. Because God wants to show me my unrighteousness and sinfulness. Why? So that I can feel bad? No. So He can transform me. “Lord, I was unaware of my sinfulness, my pride, my selfishness, my lust, my laziness. Lord, I am sorry.” 

But what’s the problem in Laodicea? Since we don’t spend time with Jesus—He’s at the door, and it’s not our priority to spend time with Him—what happens? We’re not seeing the glory of God, and thus we are not seeing our own sinful, selfish, and prideful ways. Let’s read these 2 quotes:

“The way to dispel darkness is to admit light. The best way to deal with error is to present truth. It is the revelation of God’s love that makes manifest the deformity and sin of the heart centered in self.”— Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 498.

"No man can of himself understand his errors. In one way only can a true knowledge of self  be obtained. We must behold Christ. It is ignorance of Him that makes men so uplifted in their own righteousness. When we contemplate His purity and excellence, we shall see our own weakness and poverty and defects as they really are. We shall see ourselves lost and hopeless, clad in garments of self-righteousness, like every other sinner. We shall see that if we are ever saved, it will not be through our own goodness, but through God’s infinite grace.”— Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 159.

Remember, Jesus says to the Laodicean Church, “Buy from Me.” What are we going to buy or exchange with Jesus? What shall we give Him and thus He give us? Notice this list: 

1. My intemperance vs Christ’s temperance.

2. My laziness vs Christ’s discipline.

3. My adulation vs Christ’s humility & meekness.

4. My competitiveness vs Christ’s collaboration.

5. My carnal eyes & speech vs the mind of Christ. 

6. My apathy vs Christ’s agape for everyone.

7. My worldliness vs Christ’s holiness & righteousness.                                                                                                                       

And so, the number one thing God desires is our transformation and this can only happen with a relationship with God—your prayer life and your study life—your priority every day, because there is nothing more important in this world. That’s the key to everything God wants to do in us and through us. 

“We may leave off many bad habits, for the time we may part company with Satan; but without a vital connection with God, through the surrender of ourselves to Him moment by moment, we shall be overcome. Without a personal acquaintance with Christ, and a continual communion, we are at the mercy of the enemy.”— Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 324.

Lord, help us to make our relationship and quality time with You our priority today and everyday. Amen!

 

—Carlos Munoz