The Basics of Being ChristianSample

What is the Bible?

The Bible is a big deal for Christians. Why? Because we believe that the Bible is inspired by God and one of the most powerful ways for us to learn more about Him and how we’re meant to live as His people.

So, what is the Bible? The Bible is a story that leads to Jesus and invites us to become like Jesus.

When we say the Bible is a story, we aren’t saying it’s a collection of made up fairy tales. That’s not the case. What we are describing is the amazing way the Bible incorporates a huge variety of histories, poems, parables, and prophecies to tell the story of God and His redemptive plan to rescue humanity from sin and restore creation.

The Bible is a story that leads to Jesus. The centerpoint that everything before leads to and everything after launches from is Jesus—His birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and eventual return. Jesus’s life isn’t just the point in history when we reworked the way we measured time. Jesus’s life is the fulcrum on which all the cosmos shifted.

The Bible is a story that invites us to become like Jesus. Sometimes the Bible does this by giving us wisdom and examples for how to live, and other times the Bible gives us wisdom and warnings on how not to live. All of it has a purpose and helps us become the kind of person that can truly love God and love others.

When we read the Bible we learn more and more about who God is and what it means to live in a relationship with Him.

Okay, so how do we read the Bible wisely and begin to understand the story it is telling? We remember that Jesus is king and context is everything. First, we read everything in light of the fact that Jesus is the perfect representation of God. If we want to know what God is really like, we have to let Jesus be the foundation. When Jesus is the foundation, everything else can fall into place. Then, we learn the context. What is context? It’s everything before, after, and around what we’re reading that gives meaning to what we’re reading. This is why it’s so helpful to read the Bible in passages and not just pieces. Because the best way to learn what an author meant in a specific verse is by looking at how that verse fits into the paragraph, chapter, book, and the overall story of the Bible.

Lastly, we can never forget that we engage with the Word of God to encounter the God of the Word. Every time we open up the Scriptures, we do it expecting to hear from God and be changed in the process.

But, what is God really like? How will I know if I like Him? Or if He will like me? That’s what we’re going to look at tomorrow—the character and nature of God. For now, take some time to reflect on the questions below.

Consider: What is your opinion on the Bible? How confident do you feel when it comes to actually understanding the Bible? What are some things that you’ve found helpful to make the most of your Bible reading?