New Years Eve Double Feature... Part II, How Do We Read the Bible?

Reading the Bible is more than just acquiring knowledge of history: reading the Bible is about hearing God speaking to us here and now through what He has spoken and done in history, particularly through Jesus Christ. It is God's way of communicating with us and one of the ways we build our relationship with Him.

Like any relationship, if we want to know God deeply and passionately we have to discipline ourselves to spend time with God - this is how we become "disciples," or followers, of Jesus Christ. The Scriptures are a vital part of this spiritual discipline. They are for us the spectacles, or lenses, through which we see God's Holy Spirit at work in our lives even today and hear His voice in our lives. They are God's Word written, pointing to Jesus Christ, God's Word incarnate.

Thus, to read the Scriptures properly, we have to do this in a state of expectancy, prayerfulness, meditation, and interaction. We are expectant when we prepare ourselves to hear God speaking to us, and we set our hearts and minds in a state that enables us to hear God through the Scriptures. When we read the Scriptures, we pray them to God; that is, we make the words of Scripture our own words to God, or we learn how to pray by the example set in Scripture. We meditate on them when we take the words into our minds, and think about how they might fit into our lives even today. We interact with the Scriptures when we live them out in our daily lives. When we discipline ourselves to read every day or even every couple of days, we let God speak into the midst of our everyday lives to strengthen us, to transform us, to transform others through us, and to give a sense of mission and purpose to our lives. In short, this is how we become true disciples of Jesus Christ.

To give some practical help, here is one method of reading Scripture that can help you read the Bible spiritually and in a way that allows God to speak to you.

1) Pull out your Bible and your reading guide. Look up the passage for the day and turn to it.
2) Get into a comfortable position. Take a moment to relax and clear your mind.
3) Offer a brief prayer to God that asks the Holy Spirit to "illumine" your mind to understand the Scriptures and hear God's Word for you today.
4) Slowly read the passage to yourself - you can do this to yourself or out loud.
5) Slowly read the passage again. Look for any words or phrases that stick out in your mind. You might even write them down in a journal.
6) Focus on that phrase/those phrases. Repeat them to yourself. Then ask yourself:
(a) Why does this word/phrase stick out in my mind?
(b) What does this say to me now, at this particular moment?
(c) What questions does this raise that I might ask my pastor/another Christian about?
(d) Offer another prayer to ask God to help you understand or live out what He has spoken to you.

This takes maybe 15-20 minutes to do each day, or longer if you should choose. You can choose to read in the morning before work/school, over your lunch break, in the evening, or before bed. It will take time to get into a rhythm of reading Scripture daily, but when you do, it makes the day so much better.

Finally, the website for the readings is found here. Again, this plan is chronological, so you will read the Bible in the order in which it happened, making it unfold like God is telling again the story of how He has worked in the world to save us. Much thanks to Tyndale publishers for this great idea.

Let me know if you have questions, comments or concerns. We'll see you tomorrow. Have a happy and a safe New Year!

In Christ,
Pastor Nathan