How Do You Read the Bible?

Here's a simple parable with an important moral.

Each mirror, you see, has inspectors, who, acting as corporate protectors, must find any scratch, every unseemly patch. Theyre inferior mirror detectors.

The head of this group is Pierre, who trains his formidable stare on each glass for an hour, and does he turn sour when finding some blemishes there! This man, so well-trained as a peerer, has no practical use for a mirror. His hairs such a tangle, seen from any angle. We wish that his mirror were clearer.

Pierre, I repeatedly mention, Your hairs now a bone of contention. Now, sir, you just hush! I have bought you a brush, and some spray for your hairdos retention.

Do you think that such mild conversation will effect any quick transformation? Not until he observes what is fraying our nerves: his nightmare-hair irritation.

Now we know theres been many a preacher, or a prideful, and self-proclaimed teacher, who's examined Gods mirror, and cried, Could be clearer! but never saw what kind of creature the mirror to them has reflected. They must face what they never expected: if the glass is looked through, then so clear is the view, that the critics themselves are inspected.

As James, the brother of Jesus writes, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing ithe will be blessed in what he does." --James 1:2225 NIV

Steve Singleton has written and edited several books and numerous articles. He has been an editor, reporter, and public relations consultant. He has taught college-level Greek, Bible, and religious studies courses and has taught seminars in 11 states and the Caribbean.

Go to his DeeperStudy.com for Bible study resources, no matter what your level of expertise. Explore "The Shallows," plumb "The Depths," or use the well-organized "Study Links" for original sources in English translation. Check out the DeeperStudy Bookstore for great e-books, free books, and great discounts. Subscribe to his free "DeeperStudy Newsletter" or "DeeperStudy Blog."

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