From the Desk of the Senior Pastor

Over the years, people occasionally will talk to me about their experiences of reading the Bible on their own, either doing a personal Bible study or personal devotions. Often, they will remark about how they can read the same passage over again at different times in their lives and get something different out of it. For many people, this highlights how scripture can speak to us differently in different seasons of life and as our circumstances change. In our individual devotions, we have a sense that God is speaking to us personally through the words we encounter in the Bible.

In that way, the scriptures are a gift from God to us, allowing us to encounter God’s teachings, wisdom, and grace even when we are sitting alone at home. When reading scripture, we become part of a conversation that crosses over thousands of years, through different languages, cultures, and peoples. We can be inspired, changed, and guided by the Holy Spirit through our personal scripture reading.

However, we must be careful as we read the Bible in this way. That is, we must be careful that this is not the only way we encounter the scriptures. If we are only ever reading the Bible alone at home or studying it alone with the help of our favorite commentary or devotional resource, we may end up missing God’s voice rather than encountering it. One of the reasons a passage can seem to “mean” different things at different times in our lives is because of the way we hear it rather than necessarily an actual change in its meaning.

Generally, a passage means what it meant when it was written. That doesn’t change even if that meaning is no longer apparent to us today. If we are to interpret scripture responsibly, we want our interpretation to be as close to that meaning as possible. However, we are coming to the passage from a place that is much different than the place the original writer came from. We need to acknowledge what we are bringing to each passage we read. We are from a different time, a different culture, speaking a different language, and asking different questions. We should understand that meaning, interpretation, and application in relation to scripture are not the same things. If we only ever read the scriptures alone, it may be that we mistake our own thoughts and our own voice for the thoughts and voice of God.

So, an important aspect of reading scripture is to humbly come together as a community to hear it read, discussed, interpreted, and applied. It is important to read it in conversation with each other today and in conversation with the saints of the past. It is important that we are able to acknowledge how much we don’t know about the context of any biblical passage. And remember, the main goal of reading the Bible for Christians is to encounter Jesus Christ, the Word (John 1). The word of God will challenge us and change us because God’s thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8).

I pray that we continue to find ways to encounter Jesus in the scriptures both in our personal devotions and together in worship, Sunday School, Bible Studies, and in conversations with one another. May God’s Spirit bless each of us as we seek to hear the gracious words of our Lord and be transformed by them. Amen.

Peace to all,