Opening the book

Our Bible understanding starts to go astray when we open the book looking for what God is saying to us. We read John 15:11, "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete", and see that it talks about joy, so we turn to other passages that pick up this theme and conclude by exhorting our brothers and sisters to be involved in each others' lives, sharing one anothers' joys and sorrows. This is true and good but not exactly what the verse from John 15 is about, beginning as it does with: "I have told you this so that...". Clearly it must have something to do with what John has said just before - "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love". It's through obeying Jesus' commands that we will remain in his love and realise the joy spoken of in verse 11. Of course, many of these commands have to do with community, and yet community is not the focus here - obedience is, or love, or joy, or the Son's relationship with the Father, or all of these things.

If we never stop and wait to hear what a part of the Bible actually says, then it is all too easy to only ever pick up the themes that interest us, those topics we already understand. God's Word is for his people, it always has relevance for our everyday lives, but that doesn't mean it's always about us - sometimes it's just about him and that is exactly what we need to hear.