The Bible Is Not About You
By Chelsy Massa
The bible is not about you.
The bible is about God.
Now, those sound like two obvious statements, but most Christians read the Bible to gain something from it—to make them feel better, get some advice, and find direction at life's crossroads.
The Bible is a book about God, not you.
Of course, the bible would seem confusing, hard, and we often get in ruts of unmotivated reading. Because we forget the bible is not about us. It's a book inspired by God about God.
When you approach bible reading with a readiness to learn about God, it will completely change your life. Actually, not only will this bring new life to your daily Bible reading, but it will also bring new life to your spiritual life in general. As Christians, we have to stop thinking prayer, Sunday gatherings, and even our discipleship groups are about us. What if we took the approach of making everything an opportunity to learn about who God is?
For now, let’s stick with learning how to shift our focus on the bible from you and me to God. I want to share five habits to incorporate into your Bible reading that will transform you and your study of God’s word.
Habit 1: Learn to Observe
So many people read the bible without actually reading the bible. We too often miss what the words on the page are actually saying and instead fill in the spaces with previous knowledge. That is both good and dangerous. Good because we should read scripture, knowing that every page is knitted together to tell a grand story of the One True God. Dangerous because sometimes we insert false knowledge from people who have lazily interpreted the bible. Let me give you an example:
A commonly misquoted scripture is: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matthew 18:20). When we do not observe the whole paragraph of what Jesus is saying, we will miss what this actually means. When two or more are gathered in conflict, Jesus will be there. This is in the context of when a brother sins against you. Other scriptures would point out that God is always present at all times. We must pay attention to what the text says.
Habit 2: Pay attention to Cultural Context and Original Audience
Cultural context and original audience are crucial to reading the bible. Scripture can never mean something different for us than it did for the original audience. Texan bible teacher Jen Wilkin says it like this: “For them and then, for us and always, for me and now.” We begin with what it meant to the original audience, because it must mean the same thing to us that it meant to them. The timeless truth is the same for the 1st-century believer and the 21st-century believer.
Some helpful questions to help with context come from Wilkin’s book Woman of the Word:
Who wrote it?
When was it written?
To whom was it written?
Why was it written?
Some of those answers we can’t always get from reading the bible alone; we need help from good commentaries. However, commentaries should be our last step in the process, as we want to read with our own eyes and hear from the Spirit who reveals the truth in us. Don’t get me wrong, commentaries are incredibly helpful, but when we rush to commentaries, we let them think for us.
Habit 3: Let Cognitive Dissonance Lead You to Pray
Cognitive dissonance is when two thoughts or beliefs feel contradictory to one another, and it causes us to be uncomfortable. We often avoid reading anything in the bible that causes this in us. We mislabel it as doubt when really God is creating a stronger foundation in you through a deep wrestling. When scripture leads us to cognitive dissonance, it should lead us to pray and not run away. Prayer is a powerful tool when we get to enter into God’s presence and talk to Him. I promise you that God is big enough to handle your discomfort.
“When scripture leads us to cognitive dissonance, it should lead us to pray and not run away.”
I remember reading the story of David’s daughter Tamar. It's an utterly distressing story, especially for women. I remember being angry, confused, and grieved that such a story was in the text that was called holy. Yet, God did not let me run away from such a story, but He engaged me with it. He didn’t rebuke me when I confessed my anger, my grief, my distress, and my fear over this story. No, through prayer and the power of His Spirit, He led me to continue reading and to see His character throughout the story. God is not the passive character in that story. David was and David reaped the consequences of his passivity as both a father and a king. My hope is in a much better Father and a much better King. Cognitive dissonance should not frighten us, but lead us to better engagement with God’s Word.
Habit 4: Ask Yourself, “What Does the Text Teach You about God?”
Every time you pick up the bible, you should learn something about God, since, you know it is a book about Him. Let me give you two tools to see that while you read.
Use different colored highlighters in your bible. This a new one for me but it makes me really think about what I am reading and how it reveals who God is. Remember, we read the bible to know God. So here is an example of my own color coding system:
Blue is for the historical setting, context, original audience, and cultural practices.
Green is for genre markers/literary devices.
Dark Yellow is used to highlight direct teachings about God.
Red is for commands or moral teachings.
Purple is for promises of God.
Bright Yellow is for sin or warnings.
Orange is for Messianic prophecies or Christ-centered texts.
Now you don’t have to have so many, but I would pick two or three to help you really study who God is. When you highlight something in a certain color, ask yourself, Why did I think that and What does this particular text reveal about God?
Ask yourself, “What attribute of God did you notice in the text you read for the day?” I like to keep a list of some of God’s attributes that help me remember many of them. You can create one or use the one below to help get you started. Whatever you do, it will help you see that God is intentional in the bible and that all scripture points to knowing who He is.
What attribute of God did you notice in the text you read for the day?
Download a phone background of this list here!
Habit 5: Ask Yourself, “How does the text teach you to respond to God?”
Now, we’ve come to the last thing, which does involve some introspection. How are you going to respond when you have learned more about who God is? Do you need to confess and repent of sin? Do you need to change the way you’re living? Do you need to bow down and worship right in that moment? The bible is not about us, but it should lead us to respond to who God is, and thankfully, God is not one to be mysterious in how we should respond. Many of His teachings are about the appropriate response to Him.
My hope is that through this, the Church will gain a correct understanding of the Bible and that we won’t be stuck drinking spiritual milk (Hebrews 5:12-14), but as we mature in other areas of our lives, we will also mature in our approach to reading the Bible. Let us be grateful for the age we live in, where we can even do such a thing.
