When I was in university, I tried to tackle some of the Russian classics on my summer break. At first, I found the complexity of them overwhelming. The challenge was that they had so many characters and they all had multiple names and different people used different names to refer to each other depending on the nature of their relationship. I came to the conclusion that you need to be prepared to just spend the first hundred pages trying to figure out who everyone is and how they’re connected. Once you get past that, they’re fascinating stories. Those books showed me the importance of a reading strategy.

A year later, I began reading through the Bible for the first time. I was intrigued, but it became clear very quickly that it required a different strategy than other books that I had read. People recommended different ways to read the Bible. I just hunkered down and read it from beginning to end. I figured that I had to start by at least getting familiar with the different parts of the Bible. Since then, I have tried many different approaches, but I have found that three basic questions shape how I’ve come to read the Bible most profitably.

1. What was the message for them?

It took me a while before I understood that the Bible wasn’t written directly from God to me. The Bible is ultimately from God and it is also for me, but God took the message that He wanted to express and communicated it through human authors who were writing to specific people with unique circumstances. To understand what God is trying to say, then, I need to be aware of who wrote it, to whom and under what conditions. If I can figure out how the original readers would have understood the message, it will help me make sure I haven’t read anything into the Bible that God wasn’t trying to say. For example, often the Bible will describe things but not necessarily command them. Just because Jesus wore sandals, for instance, that doesn’t make sandal-wearing any more holy than wearing Nike Air Force running shoes or going barefoot. We need to hear the message as the original readers would have understood it.

2. What’s the take-away for me?

Once I’ve tried to understand what a particular passage’s message was to the original readers, I want to understand how it applies to my own life. Paul said that Scripture is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). That tells me that if I’m only ever reading to increase my knowledge, I’ve missed the point – God wants to change my life. When I read, I may see commands, warnings, encouragements, promises and examples. Once I’ve understood those in their original context, I want to consider how they might apply to my circumstances. Ultimately, I want to apply what I’m learning.

3. What does it teach me about God?

As important as it is to apply the Bible to our lives, it’s even more important to remember that the Bible is a book about God. He’s the hero of every story. It’s as we learn about God in the pages of Scripture, that we grow in our love for Him and enjoyment of Him. Jesus warned people who failed to understand this, saying, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). The Scriptures teach us about Jesus and lead us to experience the life that He offers. Don’t focus on what the Bible says to do and miss all that it reveals about the One who offers us life.

The first time I read through the Bible I wasn’t thinking about these questions, but God spoke to me anyway. The Bible is the only book that was written for us to read for the rest of our lives and so we shouldn’t be surprised that it doesn’t come to us all at once. Hang in there and keep seeking God in the Scriptures.

In awe of Him,

Paul