Our daughter Cecilia recently graduated from high school. As a result, we took ten million pictures so we could capture all of the meaningful moments. For a couple of weeks now, I have been looking through the photos. OK, be honest. When you look at a picture that you are in, who do you look at first? My guess is that many of us look for ourselves because we often immediately make comments like "Oh, that's a terrible picture of me!" or "I look fat in that picture" or "you look good, but I hate my hair in that shot." It's kind of a reflex thing for us.

 
Years ago a friend taught me an extremely important principle in Bible study. "When you read a passage," he said, "look for what it says about God before you consider what it says about you." While that seemed somewhat obvious, it was actually just the opposite of what I would usually do. I tended to read the Bible the way I look at pictures that I'm in.

 

Take simple texts such as "You are the salt of the earth..." and "You are the light of the world..." which are found in Matthew 5:13,14. My mind immediately wants to consider what that means about me. After all, Jesus is talking about me. It just makes sense to start with what the passage reveals about me. However, the first person to look for in the "picture" of scripture is not us, but God. What does it say about Him? Even in these two phrases that seem to be all - and only - about us, we can see something that Jesus reveals about Himself. Salt influences its environment. It creates thirst; it can be used to flavor food; it can contribute to the preservation of uncooked foods. Light dispels darkness. For Him to call us the salt of the earth and light of the world means that Jesus sees us as leaders and influencers of the world around us. We may not see ourselves that way, but He does. It tells us something first and foremost about Him. He has a view of us that might actually surprise us. "Really, Lord? You really think of me that way? I kinda figured that You thought that I was always getting in the way of the important things that You wanted to accomplish. You are amazing, God. Help me see myself as You see me."

Get it? Start with looking first for what a passage reveals about God. Then begin to look for where we are in the picture. It will transform the way you read the Bible.
 
Have a great weekend. See you on Sunday.
 
Terrell