It's a Story...Not a Textbook

"Spiritual theology, using Scripture as text, does not present us with a moral code and tell us 'Live up to this'; nor does it set out a system of doctrine and say, 'Think like this and you will live well.'  The biblical way is to tell a story and in the telling invite: 'Live into this - this is what it looks like to be human in this God-made and God-ruled world; this is what is involved in becoming and maturing as a human being.'"

- Eugene Peterson, Eat This Book, p. 43-44

One of my favorite things about the Scripture is that it is not written in a way to flatter us.  It's a story - the good, the bad and the ugly.  One of the things I am trying to recapture is reading it the way it was written and not how I've necessarily been taught.  I have been taught, whether intentional or not, to study the bible and then apply it to my life.  I have read it as a moral code or a systematic theology.  While the bible has within its pages, a code of morality and a system of doctrine, it was not written to be read that way.  It was written mostly in narrative form and it invites me into the stories that are within the pages.  If I am going to honor the holy pages, then I must not read to see what the bible can give me, but read in such a way to discover where I fit into this meta-narrative.  When I read this way, I submit to the story.  I do not use the story to figure out ways to meet my wants, needs and feelings.  I read to engage in the story that is there.  I am in the story of Abraham and Sarah, I'm in the story of Daniel, I'm in the story of Peter and of Paul.

"When we submit our lives to what we read in Scripture, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories, but our stories in God's."

- Peterson, p. 44

How different will by reading be when I grasp these truths?  How much richer will the stories be when I read them as a story, not as a school text?  I want to learn to savor the story.  Chew on it.  Taste it.  I want to eat this book.