Set a GOAL.
Four simple questions that carry you from reading the Bible to living it. You do not need to be an expert. You just need to read, notice, and respond honestly.
Quick does not mean shallow.
GOAL asks four plain questions. But plain questions can do deep work. If reading a passage helps you trust God, forgive someone, drop a lie you believed, or take one honest step of obedience, then real change has happened — that is the whole point. When a passage calls for slower, closer attention, the fuller EDGE method is there. GOAL isn't the lesser path; it's the everyday one.
God
What does this passage show me about God?
Start with God before you start with yourself. What does the passage show about who he is — his love, his holiness, his promises, his warnings, his mercy? How does it point to Jesus?
Others
What does this passage show me about people?
Scripture tells the truth about human beings. What does it show about our hopes, our fears, our sin, our weakness, our need? This is true of people in general — and true of you and me.
Align
Where do I need to align with God's truth?
What belief needs to change? What lie have you been believing? What attitude, habit, or way of thinking needs to come into line with what God has said?
Live it out
What is one faithful step I can take?
Make it small and concrete. What will you do today or this week? Someone to forgive, thank, serve, or contact? A prayer to pray? Don't aim for everything — aim for one honest step.
GOAL on a verse you may already know.
Most people have heard John 3:16, even if they've never studied the Bible. Watch how four plain questions open it up — and preach the whole gospel along the way.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
God
God is both loving and just. Rather than choosing one over the other, he found a way to satisfy his justice and pour out his love at the same time — by having his own Son take the punishment we deserved. God loves us more than we can imagine.
God's love is so great it cost him his Son.
Others
It tells us we are worse off than we like to think. Our problem was not something a "try harder, do better" effort could fix. Our sin was serious enough that it took the death of God's Son to answer it.
Our need was far greater than good behavior could meet.
Align
I need to receive this love rather than try to earn it. I can stop performing and start trusting. My part is to reach toward the height and depth of that love, live inside it, and be grateful for it.
Stop earning. Start receiving.
Live it out
I love others with the same love I've been given. And I live as though eternal life has already begun — because it has. It is not only a someday hope; it starts now.
Loved by God, I love others — starting today.
Now try it yourself.
Pick a passage, read it, and answer the four questions in the free Study App. No account, no cost — your notes stay on your device.
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