Instead of experiencing Christianity as a Sunday-only religious activity and as a Monday-through-Saturday operation of secular-humanistic values, this blog attempts to see everything in our world through a Christian biblical lens. In other words, "You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled." —1 Thessalonians 5:5-6
We are experiencing an unprecedented time of rapid change. These are times of war and upheaval. Starting with the death of NBA star, Kobe Bryant in January of 2020, the pandemic, the death of George Floyd, and a contentious election, we've been experiencing event after event of national and international upheaval. The events all over the world are no longer distant. They are happening in our nation as well.
Replace it with a good habit. Easy, right? Well, it depends.
When I was a kid, I had to deal with overt racial tension in school. So, life wasn't easy. I had learned to cope by waking up every morning before school to ruminate on how the day would go. I believed that if I could imagine the worst, it will help make the day go better.
I needed to think about this aphorism for a moment. "The Bible wasn't written to me?"
This statement, when I first heard it, gave me pause. I was a little uncomfortable with it at first. However, the second sentence puts it into perspective. "But the Bible was written for me."
When we read the Bible, we ought not read it to get a personal message from God. The Bible wasn't written that way. However, that doesn't mean the Bible does not have messages that can personally apply to us. In fact, God does communicate to us by giving us understanding of who He is, and what He desires — even what He desires for us.
When we read the Bible we are reading literature that was originally addressed to people who lived at that time. Much of the literature contains lessons and wisdom that are intended to be passed on to future generations, including us. But they were not written directly to us.
Because the Bible is not a single book, but a collection of books written by different human authors, at different times, in different locations, we have the obligation to consider each authors' manner of writing, each type of writing, each historical context, and each original audience as we read any text in Scripture. We must read it well, before gleaning meaning we can use. Otherwise, we will not understand what we are reading.
When we read the Bible well, we will glean what is intended for us to glean. (And perhaps avoid reading into it what we want to get out of it.) And in doing this well, we will hear from God.
Photo by Wallace Chuck from Pexels
