When I posted my first installment of the Keys To Discernment Bible Study on Colossians back in January, I was excited. I had spent several months working through the text. I read commentaries, took notes and acquainted myself with the text. Colossians is my favorite book of the Bible, and the thought of teaching it thrilled me.

When I broke my back at the end of February, obviously I had to discontinue the series for a while. But as my strength returned, I rebooted the series and then managed to write a couple new installments. I covered my very favorite passage of Scripture:

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. ¹⁸ He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. ¹⁹ For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, ²⁰ and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. ~~Colossians 1:15-20 (NASB)

Amazingly, I then managed to work through the following few verses.

Once again, health problems arose, interrupting blogging in general and Keys To Discernment in particular.

Why Keys To Discernment in particular? Because cut and pasting Scriptures plus linking to other verse references actually demands more effort than writing straight copy. I know that doesn’t make sense — I can’t understand it either — but organizing all the quotes and cross-references demanded a lot from me physically.

I didn’t mind the physical expense too much. The idea of teaching women discernment skills without having to name names motivated me to keep writing the study. Rather than simply writing a discernment blog that warned against false teachers and dangerous evangelical trends, I liked the idea of showing readers how the apostle Paul refuted the false teachers that assailed the Colossian church without naming a single name.

But this latest setback has made me think again. I had put a tremendous amount of physical effort into writing Keys To Discernment, only to have a small percentage of my readers even click on each post. Other posts would attract two or three times the amount of readers.

John and I talked about the matter last night, and we agreed that continuing Keys To Discernment would just not be worth it. I can write articles that demand less physical effort and yet draw more readers. Certainly it disappoints me to give up this series, but it’s also a relief.

Michelle Lesley once said that her readers pay less attention to her Bible Studies because they already study God’s Word well enough on their own. I choose to believe that my readers fall into that category. If so, you really don’t need me to give you more Bible Study. It encourages me to think that you already study God’s Word for yourselves.

So, as much as I wanted to keep writing Keys To Discernment, maybe it’s better that I not tax myself physically and that I trust each of you to study Scripture for yourselves. I pray that your study of Colossians will help you exercise discernment without always naming names.

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