context.

“Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.” Acts 8:35

When I was little, chapter books confused me. I thought that each one was an individual story. When I picked one up, I would just open to a random chapter and start reading. They hardly made any sense to me. It wasn't until later that I realized chapters should be read in order, from beginning to end.

This is common knowledge and perceived as a simple truth to most. Why then do we often apply the same concept when we read out Bibles? We open to a random chapter that seems appealing to us, and begin reading there. In doing so, we miss the deeper meaning that is to be found.

When we open the Word, we obviously cannot read it from beginning to end every time. However, we must read with the full context in mind.

Philip used the Old Testament too tell the eunuch about Jesus. Yet we so often skip over most of it when we study the Word. We don't spend time in Leviticus because it's tedious, we ignore the minor prophets, and we skim Genesis because we've heard the Creation story so many times. At the very least, we'll read Psalms or Proverbs because they're short and well-known.

Our responsibility as Christians is to point people to Jesus. If we truly understood how deeply Christ is intertwined and rooted in all of Scripture, then we would be excited to really study the Old Testament!

I need to remember to read the Bible in its full context, so that I may have a deeper understanding and be better equipped to show others Christ through the Scriptures.

John 1:1,14

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”