Have you ever heard someone say that the
Bible is God’s “love letter” to you?
Westerners tend to have a very ego-centric
view of the world. We perceive, understand, & interpret information &
situations based on how they affect us as individuals. We say things such as, “I
want to do that again because I was able to (you fill in the blank).” Nothing necessarily
wrong with that, but can you see how “Good Old Number 1” is the measure of how
we value or understand something?
Whether we want to admit it or not, this
way of seeing things influences how we read & understand the Bible.
With just a few exceptions, the books of
the Bible were written to groups of people rather than individuals. The Old
Testament books were written to a nation – the nation of Israel. The Gospels,
probably with the exception of Luke, were written to groups of people. Ditto
for most of the rest of the New Testament except for the Pastor Epistles &
Philemon.
Is the Bible God's love letter to me? In a
very general sense we could say that it is.
But it’s more accurate to say that
it is God’s promise to the world, & it is especially experienced by those
who believe it. When we apply it beyond our own individual world & allow it
to shape how we relate to God & to others, we will see it as more than just
a “love letter to me.”
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