“Have a personal Bible study with somebody? Sorry, not for me! That’s just asking for a never ending argument.” If that’s your view of personal evangelism and Bible study, maybe you need to rethink how you’ve gone about it in the past.

Inevitably, during a Bible study, the time will come when you reach a critical point. It’s that time when you’ve shown a person to be inconsistent, or when you’ve shown a person a passage that contradicts what he was affirming. The Scriptures have backed them in a corner. What happens then?

Well, what often happens next is that we drive and hammer that point home. We don’t let up, and we demand an answer or a retraction? We want to claim victory for our superior logistic skills.

However, the Bible teaches us to preach the word (2 Timothy 4:2), but it qualifies the way we are to do that. We are to preach the word with “all longsuffering.”

Friends, coming around to truth sometimes takes time. Mulling something over, and weighing all the evidences may require more than an initial hearing. Therefore, instead of being quick to claim victory, it would be much more beneficial to quickly tell the person with whom you’re studying that he doesn’t need to feel like he has to provide an immediate answer. Encourage him to think about it. After all, the point of a Bible study is not to “win an argument,” but to learn the will of God.

To sum it up, your goal is simply to “put a pebble in their shoe.” Give them something to think about. Leave a thought that nags at them, won’t let them get comfortable, and won’t give them rest until they find resolution through further study. Those with good and honest hearts will have to do something about it. So let’s get after it. Instead of demanding someone to say “Uncle,” simply put a pebble in his shoe and let the word of God work in their heart…or shoe. Give it some thought.

–Steve Higginbotham