How to Read Scripture in a Colorful New Way

Posted on Sep 27, 2023 Topic : Inspirational/Devotional, Men's Christian Living, Prophecy, Women's Christian Living
Posted by : Kristi McLelland

The Bible functions like God’s photo album. The Scriptures are not exhaustive. They don’t tell us every detail about every moment that happened. The Bible is not an all-inclusive record.

Today we typically store our pictures in digital spaces like cell phones and laptops. I’m old enough that I still have actual photo albums, with pages I can turn as I look through the pictures. When we choose what pictures to place in our photo albums, the events and instances we capture often involve birthdays, weddings, vacations, and holiday celebrations—important moments we want to remember. We’re not likely to include a picture of us shopping at the local grocery store on a Monday night. Our photo albums contain the most significant people and moments of our lives, some light‐ hearted and joy‐filled, others perhaps more serious and tear‐eliciting.

The Bible functions similarly—like God’s photo album. What we have is exactly what He wants us to have. When you read Scripture, have you ever considered that you are reading the stories, the pearls, God chose for you to have? In this we again see glimpses of the heart of God. While we acknowledge that there are some difficult passages throughout the biblical narrative, we also see the living God consistently working to bring about restoration, renewal, and redemption.

When I was in seminary, one of my professors often made a statement that has stuck with me. He told us, “God did not give you the Bible for you to read it,” which caught all of us off guard. As seminary students, reading and studying the Bible was primarily how we spent our time! He reiterated:

“God did not give you the Bible for you to read it; He gave you the Bible so it could read you.”

What if this is true? That God has given us the Bible so that, as we read it, it is simultaneously reading us?

The Gospel of John was written approximately thirty years later than Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The latter three are known as the Synoptic Gospels because they record Jesus’ story similarly. Matthew, Mark, and Luke were already in circulation when the apostle John penned the fourth Gospel, which reads differently and has a unique emphasis. John would have known that Matthew, Mark, and Luke had been available for a while. I think it is so interesting that the last thought he gave us, in John 21:25, is this assertion: “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”

We have a story of Jesus healing a leper,but He could have healed 10,000 others we don’t know about! We aren’t privy to all the miracles and other acts Jesus did, but I love that John says He did many other things! John seems to have understood the Spirit was guiding him to write down the very accounts God wanted us to have. This encourages me greatly every time I open my Bible, giving me the confidence that I am reading what the living God purposed for me to read. He meets us in the Scriptures.God shows us His photo album—who He is, what He is like, and what it’s like to walk with Him.