This is article #5 of Observations Gleaned from the Scriptures by Jane Ellen.
How Do You Read the Bible?
The other day I was talking to my grandson, Micah, about people reading their Bible to either make a check mark to show they did their daily Bible reading, to fill in a blank for a class workbook, or to find a scripture to prove a point we already believe. He made a great observation. He said we often read the Bible with an agenda.
His statement got me to thinking. How do I read the Bible? What is my agenda? That is a great question for each one of us to answer.
The Bible is very clear about it being God’s message to us. It is the way God has chosen to communicate with us. Sometimes when we are communicating with each other we do not listen to each other. We just wait until the other person takes a breath and we jump into the conversation with what we want to say. What would we learn about each other if we just listened to one another instead of formulating our own responses?
What would happen to our understanding of God’s Word if we read it just to listen to what He is telling us? Not reading with any other agenda but just to listen to God talking to us?
Do you think you can read God’s Word just to listen to what He is saying to us? Let’s try an experiment. For the next five days, let’s read Philippians 2:1-18 every day. At the end of the five days write down what God is telling you to do. Don’t put any of your own thoughts into the reading. Don’t start thinking about how hard it is to do some of the things that God is asking us to do. Don’t start thinking about why you are not able to do them. When God gives us something to do, He gives us the capability to do it. Sometimes we just don’t want to do what He says to do.
I hope you will try this experiment with me. Remember to read just to listen to our God. I think if you will get in the habit of reading the Bible this way you will realize how awesome our God is, how much He loves us, and how blessed we are when we just listen to Him.
Until next time, I remain with a song in my heart. JaneEllen
Click the links below to find previous observations gleaned from the scriptures by JaneEllen!