Skip to content ↓

The Bible Is Not About You

This week the blog is sponsored by Lifeway, who also wrote this article.

On the surface, most Christians would agree with the title of this post. Yet, we so often read and study the Bible in a way that says the opposite.

When we read the stories of the Old Testament, we draw moral conclusions to inform how we live our lives.

  • We see in Noah a model of how to live righteously in the midst of a generation where everyone’s hearts are set on evil.
  • We learn from Abraham that we should not hold anything back from God, just as he did when he put his only son on an altar.
  • We read about how David kills Goliath, and draw the conclusion that God will help us slay our own giants.

The same is true of the parts of the Bible that aren’t narratives: the Psalms and Proverbs, the Major and Minor Prophets, and much of the New Testament. We read these to tell us how to live—or how not to—and draw on our own pursuit of spiritual discipline to obey.

While some of us may wonder what’s wrong with that, what if this approach causes us to miss a truth that is so singularly important and life-altering it completely reframes what we understand the Bible to be? What if it prevents us from seeing that there is something so much more going on in the Bible—something more than its stories and letters in isolation?

What if, by reading the Bible as if it were about us, we miss the story that God has been telling?

Through every passage of Scripture, through every story and parable and prophecy, God is telling one story: God’s plan to rescue His people from sin through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. The Righteous Man who rescues sinners. The Faithful Son who laid down His own life for His friends. The Glorious King who slew the ultimate giant, sin, and death, to redeem His people.

This is the story that The Gospel Project shares with kids, students, and adults every week. And this Fall, we’re beginning a new three-year journey through this story where people of all ages will see how God’s gospel project unfolds—the one that began “in the beginning” and continues today in the hearts and lives of His people.

The story that is better than any story that begins with us.

The story that changes everything.

Learn more at gospelproject.com/preview.


  • The Dark Shadow on the Short Grave

    The Dark Shadow on the Short Grave

    As the great Friend of children stooped down and leaned toward the cradle, and took the little one in his arms and walked away with it into the bower of eternal summer, your eye began to follow him, and you followed the treasure he carried, and you have been following them ever since. And instead…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (May 3)

    A La Carte: When the world seems to be winning / Carson, Keller, Piper / Honesty over performance / Those who walk with sorrow / Why God allows temptation to remain / Failing and falling / and more.

  • Schools of music

    The Three (or Four) Schools of Singing

    I have heard it said that there were traditionally three different schools of singing: French, German, and Italian. I lack the musical knowledge to confidently distinguish between them, but my understanding is that the French school values vocal clarity and agility, the German school values vocal power and drama, and the Italian school values clear…

  • A La Carte Friday 2

    A La Carte (May 2)

    A La Carte: Porn shaped Gen Z men / When God speaks / The devil hates context / Being a witness to suffering / A strange aversion to white guy monologues / Biblical ministry / Book and Kindle deals / and more.

  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (May 1)

    A La Carte: Write what’s been written / The dangers and benefits of revival / Some of my best friends are inside that book / What happened in Canada / What is covenant theology? / New Kindle deals / and more.