How Do I Apply The Bible To My Life

If I know what the Bible says, how do I actually learn to live it?

“How do I apply the Bible to my life?” sounds like a simple question.

It isn’t.

Christians read the Bible. We study it. We listen to sermons about it. We attend Bible studies where we discuss it. We memorize verses. We sing songs built around its truths. We pray and ask God to help us live according to what it teaches.

All of those things have value.

Yet Christians continue asking the question.

How do I actually apply what I am learning?

Perhaps part of the problem is that we have confused learning about biblical principles with learning how to live by them.

There is a difference.

Knowing How Baseball Is Played Doesn’t Make Me a Baseball Player

Suppose I decided I wanted to become a baseball player.

I could go to the ballpark every week. I could listen to accomplished baseball players talk about the game. I could read the greatest book ever written about baseball and join a weekly group where we discussed what the book says.

I could learn baseball history. Memorize the rules. Sing great songs about baseball. Develop close friendships with other people who love baseball.

After years of doing this, I might know an extraordinary amount about baseball.

But could I hit a baseball?

Not necessarily.

At some point, someone would have to teach me how to stand at the plate, how to grip the bat, how to watch the ball, and how to swing.

Then I would have to try it.

And I would probably do it badly.

Someone might correct me.

Then I would try again.

And again.

Eventually, things that once required deliberate thought would begin becoming more natural.

We understand this process almost everywhere else in life.

Why would the development of Christian character be different?

Scripture Actually Uses the Word “Practice”

The idea that Christian maturity involves deliberate practice isn’t something Now, In Layman’s Terms invented.

Scripture says it.

Hebrews 5:14 says:

“But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

Notice those words:

Trained by constant practice.

Paul writes in Philippians 4:9:

“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

James says:

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
— James 1:22

Paul describes the same kind of active participation in Ephesians 4. The believer is told to put off the old self, be renewed in the spirit of the mind, and put on the new self.

Then Paul gets very practical.

Put away falsehood. Speak truth.

Don’t allow anger to become sin.

Stop stealing. Work and share.

Put away corrupting speech. Speak what builds others up.

Put away bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice.

Be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving.

These aren’t merely descriptions of what mature Christians eventually look like.

They are things Christians are told to do.

There is a pattern here:

Principle → Practice → Habit → Character

We learn the principle.

We practice it.

What we repeatedly practice increasingly becomes habitual.

And our habits increasingly become characteristic of the kind of person we are.

That is character.

Perhaps We Have Left Out the Middle

Modern evangelical Christianity is very good at teaching biblical principles.

We teach love, forgiveness, honesty, humility, patience, faith, generosity, self-control, kindness, and obedience.

We also talk extensively about the desired result.

We want to become more Christlike. We want spiritual maturity. We want the fruit of the Spirit evident in our lives.

Those are worthy goals.

But somewhere between learning the principle and developing the character, something can become surprisingly vague.

Practice.

The ordinary biblical relationship between learning, practice, and character can get blurred.

We hear the truth.

We agree with the truth.

We sincerely intend to live according to the truth.

Then life happens.

We respond the way we have always responded.

We feel guilty.

We pray for God’s help.

Then we return to church or Bible study and hear the truth again.

And the cycle repeats.

Perhaps part of breaking that cycle is putting something back that Scripture never took out:

Practice.

We Are Already Practicing Something

This is important because none of us begins with an empty character.

We have been practicing ways of responding to life for years.

Some have become so familiar that we don’t consciously choose them anymore. They are simply what we do.

Someone criticizes me, and I defend myself.

Someone hurts me, and I hold a resentment.

I become frightened, and I try to control everything around me.

Telling the complete truth might cost me something, so I shade it.

Someone becomes angry with me, so I become angry in return.

I am uncomfortable, so I avoid the situation.

These responses didn’t necessarily appear overnight. Many have been repeated enough that they have become part of our character.

That is why biblical growth involves replacement.

That replacement is part of the continuing struggle we looked at in Why Do I Keep Sinning Even Though I’m a Christian?—the old responses don’t simply disappear when we become Christians.

Paul repeatedly describes putting something off and putting something else on.

Here are only a few examples:

What I may already be practicing	Biblical principle to practice instead
Lying or shading truth to protect myself	Speak the truth — Ephesians 4:25
Defending myself before listening	Be quick to hear, slow to speak — James 1:19
Allowing anger to control my response	Be slow to anger — James 1:19–20
Bitterness and resentment	Forgive as Christ forgave me — Ephesians 4:31–32; Colossians 3:13
Harsh or destructive speech	Speak what builds others up — Ephesians 4:29
Retaliation	Overcome evil with good — Romans 12:17–21
Pride and self-importance	Practice humility and consider others — Philippians 2:3–4
Anxiety-driven control	Trust God rather than leaning entirely on my own understanding — Proverbs 3:5–6
Self-interest	Look also to the interests of others — Philippians 2:4
Treating people according to what I believe they deserve	Extend the grace God granted me when He forgave all my sins — Ephesians 4:32
Impulsive reaction	Self-control — Galatians 5:22–23

The question isn’t whether we are practicing.

We already are.

The question is what we have practiced long enough that it has become characteristic of us—and what God is asking us to practice instead.

Understanding our natural patterns can also help us recognize which responses come most easily to us. The free STAR Personality Course was created to help with that part of self-awareness.

Then Comes the Part We Don’t Like

On paper, Principle → Practice → Habit → Character looks easy.

It isn’t.

There is often something standing between the principle and its practice:

Fear.

Practicing a biblical principle can cost us something.

Honesty may cost me my reputation.

Forgiveness may require releasing a resentment that feels completely justified.

Humility may require saying, “I was wrong.”

Patience may require remaining uncomfortable when I desperately want resolution.

Unconditional love may require extending to another person the kind of grace God granted me when He forgave all my sins.

Trust may require moving forward without knowing how things are going to turn out.

It is much easier to study these principles than to practice them.

Studying forgiveness doesn’t cost me anything.

Forgiving someone might.

Reading about honesty is safe.

Telling the truth when something important is at stake might not feel safe at all.

Memorizing Proverbs 3:5–6 is relatively easy.

Trusting it can be terrifying.

I know because I have been there.

When “Trust God” Wasn’t Comforting

Years ago, I was trying to decide whether to remain in the job God had led me to or leave for another seemingly better opportunity.

It wasn’t an insignificant decision. My livelihood was involved, my family was involved, and yes, my financial life was involved.

While I was wrestling with what to do, Proverbs 3:5–6 came to mind:

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

I believe bringing that Scripture to mind was the work of the Holy Spirit.

But what happened next required something from me.

Trust God.

I was terrified by what that meant.

I wanted to know how the decision was going to turn out.

I wanted certainty.

I wanted to be able to calculate the risks, anticipate the consequences, and know that I was making the decision that would turn out “the way I needed it to.”

In other words, I wanted control.

But trust doesn’t require certainty.

If I already know how everything will turn out, very little trust is required.

That was the moment when a biblical principle stopped being something I knew and became something I had an opportunity to practice.

And that is where Christian growth gets uncomfortable.

The Holy Spirit Doesn’t Eliminate Our Participation

This is where an important misunderstanding can occur.

If Christian transformation is the work of the Holy Spirit, shouldn’t we simply trust Him to change us?

Scripture doesn’t appear to give us that choice between His work and ours.

Paul writes:

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
— Philippians 2:12–13

Both appear together.

God works in us.

And we participate.

The Holy Spirit brought Proverbs 3:5–6 to mind.

He convicted me.

He reminded me of the truth.

He strengthened me to make the decision and continued strengthening me after I made it.

He can and did produce His fruit in my life.

But when I am standing in the situation where the principle must actually be practiced, I still have a choice.

Will I reach into my old bag of tricks that I have practiced for years and trust myself?

Or will I practice trusting God?

Practice doesn’t replace dependence upon the Holy Spirit.

Practice is part of our participation in what He is doing.

And when I fail to do so—which I have hundreds of times and still do—I confess that failure to God, in detail. He forgives me yet again, and His forgiveness cleanses me so that I can start anew (1 John 1:9).

But What If I Practice the Principle and Things Still Go Badly?

This may be where trust becomes most difficult.

We need to be very careful not to turn biblical principles into another method of controlling outcomes.

If I tell the truth and lose my job, did honesty fail?

If I forgive someone and the relationship still ends, did forgiveness fail?

If I respond gently and the other person becomes angrier, did gentleness fail?

If I love someone and my love is rejected, did love fail?

If I trust God and tragedy follows, did trust fail?

Only if the purpose of biblical principles is to guarantee the outcome I want.

It isn’t.

Biblical principles are not techniques for controlling other people, circumstances, or outcomes.

They teach me how to live rightly before God regardless of what someone else chooses to do or what circumstances may follow.

This is where self-will can quietly sneak back into Christian practice.

I can begin thinking:

I will practice God’s principles because they will “make my paths straight” and give me the outcome I want.

But that is still me attempting to control the outcome.

Faith eventually asks something harder:

Will I practice what God says is right and trust Him with what happens next?

Isaiah 30:21 says:

“And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.”

But “This is the way, walk in it” does not mean, “This is the way on which nothing terrible will happen.”

Sometimes God’s way is difficult.

Sometimes God’s way hurts.

Sometimes we do what we genuinely believe is right and life goes to hell in a handbasket anyway.

Then we encounter another level of trust.

Before the outcome:

I trust God enough to practice His way when I don’t know what will happen.

After a painful outcome:

I still trust God even though His way did not produce what I hoped would happen.

That may be harder.

“I Have Learned to Be Content”

Paul knew something about unfavorable outcomes.

He followed Christ and eventually found himself imprisoned.

Yet while imprisoned, he wrote:

“For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”
— Philippians 4:11

Notice the word:

Learned.

Paul didn’t say that becoming a Christian automatically made him content.

He learned contentment.

He continues:

“I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.”
— Philippians 4:12

Then comes one of the most quoted verses in Christianity:

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
— Philippians 4:13

Read in context, Paul isn’t saying Christ will enable him to accomplish whatever outcome he wants.

Paul is sitting in a Roman prison. This was not Club Med by any stretch of the imagination. It was a dark, foul-smelling place. The food was terrible, and the service was unacceptable.

Yet Paul says Christ gives him strength to remain faithful and content regardless of the circumstances.

Paul did not learn contentment because his life became easier.

He learned contentment while discovering that God was sufficient when his life did not become easier.

That is mature character.

His character didn’t control his circumstances.

His circumstances revealed his character.

Progress, Not Perfection

None of this means we will practice biblical principles perfectly.

We won’t.

We will become defensive when we intended to listen.

We will become angry when we wanted to respond gently.

We will discover resentment after believing we had forgiven.

We will become frightened and reach for control after telling God we trusted Him.

We will fail.

The question is what we do next.

Failure doesn’t disprove the process.

It shows us where practice is still needed.

We confess what needs to be confessed. Correct what can be corrected. Make amends where appropriate. Learn from what happened.

And when the next opportunity comes, we practice again.

And again.

And again.

Not perfectly.

But increasingly.

Because the objective isn’t to reach a point where we no longer need biblical principles.

The objective is for those principles, through repeated practice and the work of the Holy Spirit, to increasingly become characteristic of the people we are becoming instead of the people we were.

Principle → Practice → Habit → Character

So How Do I Apply the Bible to My Life?

Perhaps the answer is simpler than we have made it.

Practice what you have learned.

Not everything at once. Not perfectly. And not because practicing biblical principles guarantees that life will go the way you want it to.

Look instead at the life you are already living.

What happens when someone criticizes you?

What happens when you are afraid?

What happens when telling the truth may cost you something?

What happens when someone hurts you badly enough that forgiveness seems unreasonable?

What happens when you have done everything you know to do, tried to follow God’s way—and the outcome is still painful?

Those are not interruptions to your spiritual growth.

Those are the places where what you believe has the opportunity to become the way you live.

The biblical principle is already there. The Holy Spirit is already at work. But the old response is there too—the one you have practiced perhaps hundreds or thousands of times.

And in that moment, you have an opportunity to practice something different.

You may not do it perfectly.

Do it anyway.

And when you fail, confess it, correct what you can, and practice again.

Over time, something begins to change.

The person who repeatedly practices honesty becomes more honest.

The person who repeatedly practices forgiveness becomes more forgiving.

The person who repeatedly practices humility becomes more humble.

And the person who repeatedly chooses to trust God—especially when he cannot control what happens next—learns something that cannot be learned merely by reading about trust.

He learns that God can be trusted.

That doesn’t mean everything works out the way he hoped.

Paul learned that from prison.

It means that when life does not work out the way he hoped, God is still God, His principles are still true, and His way is still the way.

That is why Scripture does not merely tell us what to know.

It tells us what to practice.

“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things…”
— Philippians 4:9

And Scripture tells us what that repeated practice can eventually produce:

“…those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice…”
— Hebrews 5:14

Maybe that is one of the pieces modern Christianity needs to recover.

Not another program.

Not another set of steps.

Not another promise that if we do everything correctly, life will turn out the way we want.

Something much older and much simpler:

Learn God’s principles. Practice God’s principles. Depend upon the Holy Spirit for the strength to practice them. And trust God with the results.

Principle → Practice → Habit → Character

The next time life gives you the opportunity, you will practice something.

You always have.

The question is whether you will continue practicing the person you have been—or begin practicing the principles that shape the person God is calling you to become.