A gospel-centered way to read your bible
We can fall into legalism with Bible reading, too.
We do this by reading the Bible as a rule-book. We search for holy things to do, good people to emulate, bad sins to avoid, and things about ourselves that we should change.
But this inevitably leads to despair.
Truth be told, we can’t do enough to please God, the Bible is full of other sinners not role-models, we can’t avoid making mistakes, and we don’t have the power to make ourselves change.
I would like to suggest a simple lens by which to read everything in the Bible.
A few questions to ask yourself the next time you read that zealous command by Joshua, Moses, or James on what you should be doing. These questions are specifically formed to reveal the Gospel in each passage, because they persuade us to recognize that the Bible is a book about God, our sin, and the story of redemption.
So get in the habit of asking yourself these questions every time you meditate on Scripture,
- What does this passage say about God?
- What does this passage say about me?
- How does this passage point to Jesus?
You may have to wrestle with some passages for a long time. In fact, you might even have to bust open a study bible or a commentary on occasion. And there will probably be some verses that you just give up on. But in general, your answers to this gospel-triad should come out with a certain flavor…
- God is holy and deserves what he asks of me
- I am a sinner, and all I do is fail God in what he asks me
- Jesus bridged the gap between God and me
Start reading the Bible with this lens, and the transformative power of the Gospel will seep from its pages.
