Gospel.com Blog

We all have problems, and we want solutions. That’s why it’s so tempting to treat the Bible like a big book of answers. We just want to find the right verses and passages, because if we can find them then we’d never screw up and get embarrassingly drunk again, or we could win that argument about women in the church, or we could finally have a clear conscience about whether to get the couch or donate the money to charity.

In the Dark Side of Bible Reading Jeremy Berg writes of his concern for this approach. He’s worried that the self-absorption we bring to the study of Bible could be harmful.

Here’s an excerpt:

I am concerned about those who approach the text with their own issues and preoccupations already in mind and ask the Word to magically speak to those issues. I am irritated with an attitude (usually well-meaning and unintentional, by the way) that sounds like: “That’s a nice story Jesus, but can you please address my problem with __________?”…And a thousand other variations.

The hidden dark side of this posture toward God’s Word is that it reveals a deep-seated self-absorption that keeps us at the center of our universe and insists that God and His Word orbit our needs and serve our interests.

He goes on to offer what he calls a “different posture toward God’s Word”:

1. First, let’s humbly approach God’s Word as we would approach God himself. Let’s reverently bow in awe and listen intently to what he is actually saying to us.

2. Instead of “applying the Bible to our lives” (which again assumes we are the fixed center point and the Word is just a holy ointment to be applied to our souls) let’s instead try to “apply ourselves to the Bible.” Put narratively, let’s not let give God a convenient place within our own story; but rather find ourselves swept up in God’s much larger Story!

3. Instead of bringing all of our concerns to the text and forcing it to speak to them, let’s instead let God’s concerns invite us out of our (relatively) petty preoccupations and into the realm of heavenly realities. “Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things” (Col 3:2)…

4. Finally, personal application must come only AFTER one has given God’s Word a fair hearing. Let God lead the conversation where He so desires. When we’re done letting God’s Word speak then we can ask the Spirit to give us a personal assignment in response to God’s challenge.

Read the entire Dark Side of Bible Reading post.

What do you think? Do you agree with Mr. Berg’s posture toward the Bible?

Do you have a favorite devotional? It might be a classic of Christian literature or a fresh-from-the-printer modern work, but many Christians have a favorite devotional that they turn to each day to complement their prayer and Bible reading.

Do you have a favorite? What is it, and why do you like it?

Share your answer!

A few weeks ago, I pointed out an article on the Koinonia blog about common Bible study mistakes and the usefulness of inductive Bible study. But what exactly is inductive Bible study? How’s it different from “normal” Bible study, and is it something you need a seminary degree to undertake?

It turns out that inductive Bible study is actually a very simple concept, something that anyone can do while reading through the Bible. It’s a very personalized way of reading through the Bible, and lets you walk thoughtfully through the Bible at your own pace. The good folks at Intervarsity have a short step-by-step guide to inductive Bible study that has helped me grasp the concept.

If your Bible reading feels directionless or lacking, I encourage you to try out the inductive study method on a few chapters. It’ll get you interacting with the Bible text in a way that you may never have done before. If you do try it out (or if you’ve been doing inductive Bible study for a while now), stop by the comment section below and share your experience!

What would it be like if God called you up on your cellphone? Back to the Bible has an interesting ministry called 411God that provides an idea of how that might work: you sign up for an account, and then you get a daily call to your cellphone with one minute of Scripture.

The service is free to use; and if you’re curious what the daily calls sound like, you can listen to past ones online at their archives. (There’s also a free album from the band Vota available for download.)

411God’s an intriguing idea, and I wonder if we’ll see the concept spread to other forms of daily spiritual engagement, like devotionals or prayer. How many of us don’t spend enough time each day in Bible reading or praying because we just can’t seem to find the time? This program sidesteps that excuse by bringing the Bible to you instead of waiting for you to find time to come to the Bible. If you give it a try, leave a comment below to let us know your impressions.

Do you struggle with any bad Bible reading habits?

I’m not talking about the bad habit of not actually reading the Bible (a battle every Christian I know has fought at least a few times in the course of their life). Rather, have you ever caught yourself reading the Bible in a misleading or counterproductive way?

Andy Le Peau talks about bad Bible reading habits and suggests that inductive Bible study is a good way to re-train yourself to get the most out of your Bible reading. He points out one example of bad Bible reading, described by Ajith Fernando at Koinonia: the habit of scanning through a large passage and picking out the handful of familiar, inspiring verses—ignoring the rest of the text, which may provide critical context for those inspiring bits.

I’ve certainly seen that bad habit in action, and have fallen victim to it a few times myself. Another bad habit lots of us commit is proof-texting—singling out a verse or two that appears to support an idea we like, without bothering to ask whether the verse, put in the full context of the complete passage, is really saying what we want it to.

What about you? Have you noticed any bad Bible habits taking root in (or even worse, being promoted by) the church today? How did you break out of your own bad reading habits?

Looking for a good Bible study curriculum for this fall? Officers’ Christian Fellowship has just posted a series of free Bible study guides on the book of James that would be perfect for a small group that wants to tackle one of the Bible’s shorter but more interesting books.

The book of James focuses on growing in maturity in the Christian faith; there’s a lot packed into its five chapters. In addition to the OCF study guides linked above, you can find some additional useful background and thematic information on James at Biblica’s outline of James and Into Thy Word’s two-part introduction to James. Between those three resources, you should have plenty to kickstart a great Bible study.

Sunday’s Words of Hope Radio Program walked through the book of Jonah, asking a question: do we care about people like God does?

Here are a few excerpts from the transcript of Jonah and the Whale:

You probably can remember Jonah’s story. God called him to be a prophet, to proclaim his word and call people to repentance. But unlike the other biblical prophets, the Lord didn’t send Jonah to preach to the people of Israel. He sent him to Nineveh. Now there were two very large reasons why Jonah didn’t want to go there at all. One was that the people of Nineveh were foreigners, gentiles, pagans. Why should they listen to the word of Israel’s God? The other reason was that those people were the enemy. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, and Assyria was the big bad bully living on Israel’s block. [...]

God’s heart of love is moved with pity for people who don’t really know what they are doing, who, like those Ninevites, “do not know their right hand from their left.” God cares about the countless people in the world who live from day to day without a thought about eternity, or the state of their souls, or even about God himself; people who live like dumb beasts, with never a concern about anything higher than their own physical comfort or pleasure; people who don’t even know that they don’t know the only one in whom there is life and hope — the Lord Jesus Christ. God has compassion for all such. He pities them. And he wants to break through to them, to reach them with the message of his love and mercy.

Read the entire transcript, or listen to the broadcast.

The June issue of the free Meet with God Bible study is up at the Back to the Bible website! Meet with God is a monthly study guide that contains 4 different studies, each focused around a particular question about God or faith. The June issue tackles these questions:

• How Can Five Plus Two Equal Five Thousand? In the economy of faith, God provides for every need even in surprising ways. 

• Why Does the World Hate Jesus? Following Jesus’ example can produce strong, even hateful responses. 

• Why Don’t People Just Believe? Learn how God can use misfortune to bring people to faith. 

• If I Die, Is That the End? Jesus answers the life and death questions in His own work.

It’s a nice resource both for spending some time in Bible study each month and working your way through some of the tough questions about Christianity. And once you’ve worked your way through this month’s study, there’s an archive of past Meet with God studies for you to check out.

When was the last time you really studied the Old Testament? Sure, most of us know the famous stories and characters—Adam & Eve, Noah, King David, Jonah, etc. But the vast majority of verses and Bible passages that Christians look to for guidance come from the more familiar New Testament.

There are some perfectly legitimate reasons for that, of course. But the Old Testament is much more than just a series of stories setting up the “important” part of the Bible. The latest issue of Uplook magazine has just been posted online (in PDF), and its focus is on revisiting the Old Testament. It’s got articles by Shawn Abigail, James Martin, and Jack Baker about how to read the Old Testament, where we find Christ in the Old Testament, and how the Old and New Testaments are intended to relate to each other.

You can download a copy of the new May issue (and take a look at back issues) at the Uplook website.

Zechariah is the second-to-last book in the Old Testament. It’s far from the longest book in the Bible, and Zechariah is far from the most famous prophet. But the book of Zechariah is incredibly important to the overarching theme of the Bible: its prophecies clearly and plainly predict the coming of Jesus Christ.

The prophet Zechariah is believed to have carried out his ministry at the same time as Haggai, who we looked at last week. It was a dark time for God’s people; in the aftermath of a long captivity in a foreign land, it was unclear what the future held for the remnant of Judah.

But in an uncertain time, Zechariah’s preaching rang out with hope and the promise of restoration. In chapter 12, Zechariah predicts a trying future—but promises that God will preserve His people through it:

The LORD will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. On that day the LORD will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the LORD going before them.

But beyond these general prophecies, the book of Zechariah is sprinkled with predictions that seem to point strongly at Christ and His saving work. Early in the book, God promises that He will “bring my servant, the Branch”; later comes a reference to God as “the one they have pierced”, and even a mention of thirty pieces of silver!

Zechariah’s clear hints about Jesus Christ make it a fascinating book to read, and especially appropriate as Easter approaches. It’s also filled with very memorable imagery, evocative descriptions of angels, and a strong message of reassurance. For all its import, it’s only 14 chapters long—consider adding it to your Lent reading list this week!