Is It That It Is Hard to Understand?
If you already know how to read and you have access to a Bible, why does it at times seem that the Bible is hard to understand and is boring? Maybe what we overlook is that we already read in a variety of ways. Maybe what gives rise to the feelings that the Bible...
You Already Know . . .
Sitting with a few friends over lunch, we talked about reading Scripture. Our little band was made up of an elder from a local church, a Bible teacher, a mission administrator, and a president of a Asian seminary and Bible college. Our conversation turned to the...
And The Spirit’s Part?
Although a great deal The River's focus is to help people read and understand the Bible, it is not merely a "natural" thing we do. Our reading Scripture is not simply a matter of applying ourselves to the task of reading. Although the goal of reading the Bible...
Why Not Just Read the Bible?
So many Bible study books, with long chapters and multiplied “principles,” imply you need to master some specific content before you can feel confident that you could actually read the Bible. It’s not that there aren’t principles to be learned, but too often the...
Scripture is Foundational
After the resurrection, two of those who had been following Jesus for some time were on their way from Jerusalem back to their home in Emmaus. They weren’t part of the inner circle of twelve, but they were readily identified as “disciples” of Jesus (Luke 24:13–35)...
Undoing Bible Myths
There are a couple of prominent “myths” about reading the Bible that seem to get in the way of Christians becoming good readers of Scripture. The first myth: “The Bible is very difficult to understand.” This myth summarizes the idea that the Bible is so difficult...
Don’t Settle
Christians do not gather on “the Lord’s day” to memorialize a great historical figure or to affirm a particular ethical way of life. We do not have a theoretical “relationship” with a noble archetype. Jesus, who walked the streets of Palestine thousands of years...
Real Value
“How do you measure the value of something you hold dear? How do you assess the worth of a prize? Is it not by the depth of delight it induces in your heart? Is it not by the intensity and quality of your joy in what it is? Is it not by how excited and enthralled...