Hi, Lynn
Welcome to Christian Forums
We are pleased to meet you
I am Bill
God bless you
One thing I think of is read a scripture verse by verse so you can't skip things God wants you to feed on. If we jump around to string together verses to prove what we believe, this can have us missing very nutritional things. For example, start at the beginning of a Gospel or letter or other book in the Bible and go verse by verse, and trust God to have you see and benefit from what He has for you.
Then, as you share in churches or a church, you can see if and how the messages and people are feeding on everything, and not only repeating a few fingerprint beliefs over and over in how many different ways of promoting what makes them different from others.
The Bible can give us so much more and better than ones who are comparing and competing (2 Corinthians 10:12). But mature Christians can be in the same place as ones who are trying to look like they are the greatest. And you need to learn how to love the hypocrites and the show and tellers and the growing ones who are not sound examples < these can be with ones who love and care for them in prayer and have hope for them. You can do well to be in the number of the ones who do not give up on ones with problems and who are problems . . . their own main problems, yes.
Love
"hopes all things" > in 1 Corinthians 13:7. Jesus died on the cross, with hope for any evil person, at all. So, rest in how Jesus does not give up on us. But this is our example to follow, isn't it?
As you become more committed to this, God will connect you with others who are committed to loving any and all people. And you even can discover pastors who openly talk in their sermons about how God has been correcting them, so their example can help you, too, to get real correction which our Heavenly Father is able to do in His children.
God's correction changes us to become like His Son Jesus > Romans 8:29. This makes us more and more pleasing to God, like Jesus is, plus submissive to our Father in His own peace > Colossians 3:15 > plus loving one another as Jesus wants us to relate in His love > Ephesians 4:2, Ephesians 4:31-5:2, Ephesians 5:21, 1 Peter 5:3, 1 Peter 3:8-9.
You say you like to have studies with lots of verses. With you in mind, I think I will now start a thread in the "General Theology" section, about our basic Christian calling and what is included in this. And you are welcome to join us there and share