This is the final installment in a four-part series diving deeper into a bible-reading tool with the acronym “COMA” standing for Context, Observation, Meaning, and Application. Our live Zoom study has now concluded, but you can view the study materials and syllabus we used here.
COMA: Application
By Meghan Berry
For the month of May, we have been on a journey through the book of Colossians using the tool “COMA” to help us study the text. We have already walked through Context, Observation, and Meaning, which leaves us with, last but not least, Application. If you have not yet read the previous blog posts on the COMA tool, please take a quick break and read through those. What follows can only be done once the first three steps have been taken faithfully.
I make this exhortation because Application is often where most Bible-readers gravitate when it comes to engaging with Scripture. While I do believe we ought always to end here, I have observed that we often too quickly jump to Application. Now, there may be many reasons for why we do this, but I have observed and admit that in my own study, it is usually because I care too much about what the Bible has to say to me than for what it says about God; we need to remember that the Bible is primarily God’s story, not our own. And truly, I, as one created in his image, will only know rightly what the Bible has to say to me if I rightly behold God, in all his holiness, through his Word. Additionally, if we have not spent adequate time considering the text within its context, making thorough observations, and distilling the truths, our applications may be very shallow, inappropriate, or, frighteningly, contradictory to the gospel. I cannot express enough the importance of slowing down to walk through these first three steps of COMA before practicing application.
PURPOSE: OBEDIENCE
Though many of us may jump to Application too quickly, conversely, there is a danger in never arriving there either. James writes about this in chapter one of his epistle,
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
James is speaking here of obedience, the true essence and full reality of Application. If we never get to Application, or we merely consider it without really putting it into action, we are not responding to the Word with obedience. We are being “hearers only.” In being an obedient doer of the Word, there is an urgency. You do not simply walk away, putting off the necessary action, and forgetting what you heard. You urgently respond with action in the moment and in every moment that follows as you persevere by grace. Sounds intense, right? But behold the promise at the end of verse 25—”[you] will be blessed in [your] doing.”
Not only are we blessed in our doing, but the church and the world around us are blessed by our obedient application. In applying the text to our lives, we embody the character of Christ and truly become his hands and feet in the world today. Remember, we are, quite literally, his body (1 Corinthians 12:27).
Ultimately, Application forces us to ask the question, “How do we then live?” In light of the Word that we have labored to read and understand in the power of the Spirit, we then consider how our lives ought to reflect the truth we find in the Word and then the ways we will put that into action. Here we have the opportunity to walk in blessed obedience, bringing glory to Christ in the church and in the world through our lives.
PAUSE, PRAY & PONDER
As we move through the COMA tool, we ought to be praying throughout. We need the Holy Spirit every step of the way as we engage with Scripture, and especially so as we approach application (John 16:13-15). So, as we move from Meaning and begin the Application step, we pause and pray, depending on God to lead us into good works rather than conjuring up our own. Ask for the Holy Spirit to speak to you personally and to inspire you to specific action. Then, in light of what you found in the Meaning of the text, consider your life:
Internally
Do I believe this truth(s) about God, self, and/or others?
How do my attitudes, thoughts, and feelings currently reflect this truth(s)?
What requires a change of thought? How can I make that change?*
Externally
How do my actions, lifestyle, relationships, and environment reflect this truth(s)?
Where do I need a change in my behavior?*
If I do believe this truth(s), how can I live out this truth practically today? How do I plan to live it out long-term?*
Generally
Much of this time of pondering will be repentance. In light of a holy God, we see ourselves as sinful (Romans 3:23). By grace, we turn away from sin, and turn to righteousness and holiness. Turning away from sin and turning to righteousness ought to be a part of every application pondering we do.
PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE
Now, here is where the rubber meets the road and some of the most difficult work of COMA begins: Actually putting our application steps into practice and repeatedly and regularly exercising obedience to the truth. There are two things I find most helpful here at this stage:
Action Plan
Especially if there is a long-term change required, it is important to make SMART goals with specific steps toward those goals. For example, maybe Colossians 4:2 challenged you to have a daily prayer time (“continue steadfastly”) which especially incorporates the requests of others (“being watchful”) and offering thanks (“with thanksgiving”). An example action plan could then be:
Collect requests from others and write them down in one place.
Spend 10 minutes in prayer before bed time each night.
Pray over the written requests and any that came up during the day.
Recount your day and offer thanks to God.
Community
God has gifted us the family of faith to grow together. Involve others in your application by sharing transparently about what you are learning from the Word and how you are incorporating the truths into your life. Ask others to pray with you for grace to live in obedience and to give accountability in your action plan going forward. Then, turn it around and ask how you can support others in their application too!
PITFALLS
Do Nothing (License)
Again, one temptation is to take in the Word, and do nothing with it. In doing this we claim, “I have faith without works.” I have already written some on this, but I want to re-emphasize with James, “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:14-26). True, saving faith produces obedience to the Word. We as disciples cannot expect to do nothing with it.
More personally, my temptation in this department is to pick and choose what Scriptures I actively apply to my life. The Apostle Paul reminds me, however, in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that,
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Did you catch that? All Scripture, every corner and each crevice (yes, even those long lists of names like in Colossians 4:7-18), is there to teach, reprove, correct, and train us in righteousness so that we will be completely ready to do every good work. That means every passage can lead us to application in some way.
Do Everything (Legalism)
On the other end of the spectrum we can get slap happy with application and attempt to do everything, all at once, all in our own strength and, dare I say, for our own glory. In doing this we claim, “I have faith in my works.” The Apostle Paul speaks directly to this in his letter to the Ephesians, saying in chapter two,
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Yes, we were created in Christ for good works. But these works are ones which God has prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them; let us ask him what those are, rather than asserting our own will and way in an attempt to please (or appease) God. Let God determine your works and bear fruit in your life (John 15:4-5).
PROMISE: LIVING IN LIBERTY
By this point, you may be feeling overwhelmed, thinking, “How am I ever going to live out all this application stuff? Will I always get trapped in the pitfalls of license and legalism?”
As disciples, we need not be overwhelmed by these questions. For, Christ’s totally and utterly obedient life, which led him to an obedient death on a cross (Philippians 2:8), has set us free from sin to live a life of righteousness unto God (Romans 6:15-23). We are now at liberty to obey God and are free to honor him through daily application of his Word in the power of the Spirit. Take hold of this by grace through faith today, and tomorrow, and for all the days God gives you, trusting the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:12-13,
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
*Questions borrowed or adapted from Discipleship Essentials by Greg Ogden, Chapter 4: Bible Study.