Often we approach the Holy Scriptures only by striving to interpret and apply truths to our lives. I realize this approach sounds so right; however, this approach focuses on gaining information to live by instead of growing in relationship with Jesus Christ to live with.
This approach is why some Christians become disillusioned and do not come to the realization that Bible reading is the most exciting thing they can ever do.
My heart in ministry is to lead others to personally hear the Father's voice through His Word the Bible. I desire my Bible teaching to give others a hunger and thirst for God's Word instead of encouraging their co-dependency on my interpretation and application of Scriptures.
| I want others to hear directly and personally from God the Father, and not second-hand and impersonally through me. |
I have recently had opportunities to share with others (24 men at a mission, 12 employees at 3 businesses, and 8 men I am mentoring) two glorious aspects of the Scriptures that invite us into a relationship.
Be encouraged by the following descriptions of these two aspects of the Holy Scriptures!
SCRIPTURES ARE THE WORD OF GOD
TO SAVOR
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (1 Timothy 3:16).
Because each word in the Bible has been breathed out by God through the personalities of men, each word is a living jewel from God. As such, we should, first and foremost, observe with much awe each word even before we try to start interpreting and applying the truths the words collectively convey.
As a child of God, we can have a humble awe as we gaze at God's words. As a child is enthralled by seeing something he or she has never seen before, we, too, can be enthralled by seeing something in a word or phrase of Scripture we have never seen before.
As a man or woman of God, we have been given the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) to wisely observe many characteristics of each word and phrase of Scripture. We can observe repeated words, the tenses of words, the order of words, why other words were not used, etc, realizing that God breathed out very specific words in very specific orders for very specific reasons.
Howard Hendricks used to teach his students at Dallas Theological Seminary to find at least 50 observations of the one short verse Acts 1:8!
| The Holy Spirit invites us to walk with Him through the "halls of Scripture" to first and foremost worship God by appreciating His "gallery of words" spoken to you and to me. |
The advantages of starting with observation of Scriptures before the interpretation and application of Scriptures include the following:
1. By skipping over observation, we get into a hurry by starting out with interpretation and application of Scripture for our own selfish reasons. Observation slows us up to Be still and know He is God (Psalm 46:10).
2. Observation sets us up to be prayerful and dependent on the Holy Spirit for illumination of Scriptural truths.
3. Observation is how the Holy Spirit nurtures us to realize that Bible study is worship, and not drudgery. We don't read the Bible in order to experience God later; reading the Bible is experiencing God!
4. Observation increasingly tunes our spiritual ears to our Father's voice.
5. We learn that interpretation and application of Scriptural truths are the fruit of observation, and not just the next steps after observation. "Seeing" God's truths is the fruit of first "seeing" the words as God's words.
6. We learn to behold Christ Himself who is the Word of God (John 1:1, Hebrews 1:1-3).
THE WORD OF GOD IS JESUS
TO BEHOLD
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
| There is only one way to be transformed more and more into the image of Christ. And it is not by accumulating knowledge from the Scriptures. It is by beholding Christ in the Scriptures! |
For you see, all Scriptures point to Christ. The first thing the resurrected Jesus did with His disciples is to teach them to observe this about Scriptures:
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27).
CLOSING
I believe that in our humble position of observation, we remain at the feet of Jesus who is our Teacher for the interpretation and application of Scriptural truths.
We truly can look into His eyes. Just think about this. We who were once enemies of God in our sins can now gaze directly into our Savior's loving eyes!
Through the cross and resurrection of Christ, you were transformed into a new person with new eyes -- eyes that can now observe the glory of Christ in Scriptures!
