A Short Guide to Reading the Bible Better. George H. Guthrie. 2022. [November] 176 pages. [Source: Review copy]
First sentence: This is a book about words. Words have already shaped your life a great deal, putting things in motion, setting trajectories for your relationships, work, interests, commitments, and hopes. Words have hurt or healed you, delighted or devastated you, instructed and informed you. In short, words have played a large role in defining who you are today.
George H. Guthrie has written a handful of books about the Bible--namely how to read the Bible. This one strives to be short(er) and (more) concise. His mission (obviously) is to get his readers to read the Bible (the VERY WORD OF GOD) better. Guthrie writes, "If our purpose in life is to live for him and to his glory, and the Scriptures shape us for his mission, then God's Word provides us with a means to that very desirable end...The Scriptures play a vital role in us fulfilling our purpose in the world. Consequently, there is no more important task in life than hearing from God and trusting him on the basis of his Word... Everything else in our lives is shaped by whether or not we are living out of a life grounded in the Word of God, the Bible. We need to read it and read it better than we ever have before, so that we can live it well."
Each chapter seeks to help believers read the Bible better. It is essential, in Guthrie's opinion (and my own) for believers to live in the Word. His chapters cover a variety of topics all working together to help believers read the Word better. Topics include motivation and spiritual condition, how to better understand the message of Scriptures (including picking a translation), how to read the Bible with others, how to read for personal transformation, the big picture of the Bible, Bible reading plans, and selecting useful tools or resources for study.
I love that first and foremost he makes this a heart issue. I think it is so easy to forget this. Our attitude is not something that we can just shrug off. It doesn't matter if my heart is open or closed--or distracted or engaged--so long as I check Bible reading off my list. That's not how it works. The Word of God is powerful and life-giving. It is food for our souls. Spending time in the Word should strengthen, encourage, convict, transform. It should be a joyous meeting of our souls with God.
I appreciated this one. At times--and I am not saying I could approach this topic any better--it felt a little like product placement. Read these books [a good many but definitely not all seemed to be published by his publisher]. I don't know a way around this. I don't. But overall, I greatly appreciated it and would recommend it.
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