Love Letter

Sometimes I feel like reading the Bible gets a bad rap. At first blush, it is a formidably long and detailed text. The tendency can be to leave it sitting on a shelf gathering dust. To our 21st century ears, the language in some versions seems completely foreign. It is full of people with long names who lived thousands of years ago. There are genealogies, battles, kingdoms and cultural forces at work we don’t understand.…sounds more like a history lesson than a faith practice and, let’s face it, history has never been my strong suit! So…why bother?

Well, I would argue, it is well worth the effort! The Bible is not a textbook with content to be mastered to achieve a high grade. I have heard it called a guide book, even a love letter. In any case, I believe it is a book, no, THE Book, deserving of my time.

I am certainly no expert, to be sure, but there are a couple of strategies I am finding helpful when digging into the Word.

• First, this may go without saying, but I try various versions of the Bible to find ones that are written in more contemporary language. Sometimes I find it insightful to check out the same verse in a couple of different versions to obtain a richer understanding. While perhaps not a version, but rather more of a paraphrasing of the Bible, The Message by Eugene Peterson (https://messagebible.com/ ) is another go-to for me to see scripture in a new light.

• It helps me if I zoom out. I mean really out! I am striving to get a feel for the narrative as a whole - an overview, if you will. I have even read a copy of The Bible for Dummies! The Bible Project (https://bibleproject.com/ ) is an awesome online resource recommended by a friend. It has one particular video series called “Intro to the Bible”, which provides a “big picture” of the Bible. I especially recommend the video entitled “What is the Bible?”. This site also has great outlines of both the New and Old Testaments as a whole, as well as for individual books of the Bible. I admit I am a sucker for drawing along with commentary - it seems to suit my mix of visual and auditory learning styles! And, of course, there are many Bibles that contain sections at the beginning of each book that outline its main events and themes, which I also find useful.

• The teacher in me knows that reading with intent, keeping an eye out for specific discoveries or details, can improve my comprehension and focus. For example, I could keep a list of God’s character traits as I come across evidence of them and also focus on identifying important principles I discover along the way.

Is your Bible sitting all alone…craving your company…bursting to share life-giving insights? I am discovering the most wonderful narrative between its covers. Relationships, adventure, action, even some humour, and above all, a message of the most astounding love. Well worth my time!