Start Reading The Bible ...

Monday, January 23, 2012. Sometimes there are days when we start something new. There are days when we change some habit. Or we made a new discovery and suddenly change our behaviour. That can be linked to particular people, which we got to know. But it can also be linked to things we read or particular events …

Starting to understand …

I remember that I once started to read the bible, the New Testament. In fact, I started with some part of the Old Testament. Initially I found it quite difficult to understand the bible. It seemed to be a strange book, with all the stories, with the parables, with the songs and lists and visionary images …

For me, the book of Solomon was one I had access to initially. The New Testament was not like that. Yes, I had heard a lot already in school and church, but somehow it was not accessible. But there were days when that started to change …!

It might be speculation what exactly made the difference. It is hard to tell. But I can tell that there were days when I started to read the bible. It was like the sentences were grey initially. But they started to talk to me and to become light. They started to talk to me like active text, they started to glow. Over time, they became a bright light …

The Bible about itself …

The bible itself says that you need the Holy Spirit to open the bible to you. You cannot understand it with your secular mind. You need to ask God to open its content to you. You need to start to believe him, that he is God and that he loves you. You need to be saved …!

But also, without reading, you will not be able to understand. You need to open your eyes and listen to Jesus. Start reading the bible, but ask the Lord in prayer to talk to you and to open your heart. Ask him, what he means with a particular passage which you cannot understand. Ask him, and search. Search and you will find. Ask and it will be given to you. These are the promises which the bible makes!

We want to read the bible together. We want to read it jointly, in small groups, with experts around but also with just regular Christians. There is a lot of wisdom scattered throughout the churches. God loves ordinary people, blessed are the poor in spirit! Start reading the bible … (Roland Potthast) ... more texts