Favorites and Flaws

This Christmas I got a new Bible. It is quite beautiful, with leather binding and room on each page to keep notes. I soon started transferring some of my notes on my favorite verses to my new Bible and that got me to thinking, "Is it really a good idea to transfer these notes? Am I just cutting and pasting my old thoughts, and by that ignoring the rest of the passages?"

I think this is a fair question. We all have our favorite verse, chapter or book of the Bible. We go to them frequently when we need a bit of regularity or to strengthen our conviction on a particular point. However, if we focus too much on what we have already extracted from the verse and build only on our own interpretation or understanding of the passage, we run into the danger of merely creating a man or self centered doctrine. This happens far too frequently in my personal life, I fear.

So how can we avoid this type of problem? Well, one thing that I have started is that I never write in my Bible with ink. This is because my thoughts change, situations change, and also to remind myself that though I may have thoughts and opinions, they are not on par with Scripture. I'm not condemning writing in one's Bible with pen, not at all, but it is just one of those little things I do personally to help remind myself that God is God and I am not.

Another thing that I am trying to work on is reading more than just my preference into my reading. We often come at Scripture with the assumption of what it should say, not what it does say. Being human, this is something we all struggle with. Realizing that we do so is one of the first steps to correcting bias and understanding the message behind what we are reading.

So am I going to copy all my notes into my Bible? I don't know, however, I do know there are some things that I will copy, not just for preference, hopefully, but because these are passages and notes that are relevant to what I teach and speak. In the end, we can do with this what we are to do with all our concerns: we bring it to God  in prayer.