You are reading your Bible wrong!

The Bible is the inspired Word of God, that is what Christians believe. We believe that as we read its pages, we hear the very voice of God speaking to us today. I’ve come to the conclusion recently, that as we read our Bible, we run the risk of this accusation being true of us — you are reading your Bible wrong!

You might think this is going to be a post about hermeneutics, or exegesis or theology. You might think I am going to talk about context and genre and understanding where a particular passage fits in relation to all of salvation history. I am not. These are all important things, but my point is far more fundamental than that.

We do not read our Bible in order to make ourselves stronger.

If that is how you read your Bible then you are reading your Bible wrong.

In its most basic form, in general we read to learn. This is exactly how reading works in every context of life. That could be in the form of gathering information, deepening understanding or growing in wisdom.

Gathering Information

Sometimes when we read, our primary purpose is just to accumulate facts and knowledge. No more, no less. This could be facts of history — what happened when. Technical facts, how do things fit together and work. Or any other kind of fact. We read to…