Scripture Master Tip #3: You Can Choose What (and How) to Study.

3. You can choose what (and how) to study.

You're not in grade school anymore, so there isn’t some teacher hanging over you telling you what you can and can't study or how you're supposed to go about doing it.  You're the boss now, which means you get to make the rules.  The scriptures are the text, and the Holy Ghost is the teacher, but you get to set the curriculum, which means that you can choose to study anything in the scriptures that happens to spark your interest.  Many of the people whom you may know that you might consider to be “scripture experts” often elect to study by topic according to whatever they feel prompted to explore that day.

"Study topically as well as chronologically. Both approaches have merit, but we need to go to the Topical Guide or the index from time to time and read all that the Lord has said on repentance, faith, or some other principle."  (M. Russell Ballard, "Be Strong In the Lord," Ensign, July 2004).

You can gain a great deal of knowledge if you can learn to break the gospel and the scriptures down one subject or principle at a time.  Sometimes novice scripture readers assume that they have to read the whole set of scriptures from beginning to end in order to become a scripture master, which is actually pretty difficult to sustain and not actually the best way to go about it.  Naturally, they quickly become discouraged and give up after making a few valiant tries to eat the whole hippopotamus in one sitting.

Not only should one eat a hippopotamus just one bite at a time, but there is nothing wrong with eating your favorite parts first.  If you will take the time to devote yourself to obtaining a more comprehensive understanding of a particular principle (which happens to interest you), you will find the scriptures to be much less intimidating and much more manageable and approachable.  When you figure this out, scripture study becomes much less like eating your vegetables (or a hippopotamus), and more like fun.

Go on to the next tip:  Scripture Master Tip #4:  It's OK to Ask Questions!

**There are 22 Scripture Master Tips in total!  You can find them all HERE.