The Bible is Not About You

Many of us tend to see the Bible as a book which serves one of two primary purposes:

1. It shows us how to be better people
2. It shows us how to be happier people

We tend to read it (especially the Old Testament) in a way that leads to what Bryan Chapell calls "The Deadly Be's" (be like David, be like Abraham, etc.). The problem is, that often these "heroes of the faith" are not worth emulating (adultery, murder, deceit...), and even at their best, we are wrong to take them as the hero of any story. In every instance, God is rightly understood to be the hero.

The Bible certainly can help us with being both better and happier, but these things are not primarily what the Bible is about. Ultimately, the Bible is not about me. It is about Jesus. This clip from Tim Keller's message at the 2007 Gospel Coalition Conference provides a helpful corrective as to how we are to understand the Bible.

Video montage put together by Heath McPherson. Artwork by Gustave Dor.

(HT: TGC)