I often use the phrase “seeing the forest through the trees” with my congregation because I’ve learned even the most well-intentioned Christians can miss the big picture presented in the Bible.
If you miss the Bible’s big picture, you miss the purpose of studying it. You will inevitably walk away from it wondering why it’s not having a greater impact in your life. This is a great tragedy.
The unbelieving Jews during Jesus’ time were perfect examples of this.
But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you.
– John 5:36-42
It’s entirely possible for a person to read the Bible and miss the whole point of it. The Jews were avid students of the Bible and yet they failed to identify the Messiah when He came! You see, there’s a big difference between knowing the Bible (by the letter) and doing it (by the spirit – ala James 1:22). Interestingly enough, those who are well-versed in “the letter” are often perplexed by those in “the spirit” whose academic knowledge may pale, by comparison.
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
– Acts 4:13
Jesus was constantly teaching His disciples to look for the fruit of His Word’s sanctifying work in themselves. In other words, it was the outcome of being a true disciple (aka good fruit), measured by the composite fruit of love, that mattered most and was indicative of God’s saving grace. For example, if a person knows God’s commandments but does not possess godly love, they are nothing more than a “clanging cymbal” or, even worse, “nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1, 2).
“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
– John 14:21
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
– 1 Corinthians 13:1-8a
Whenever someone tells me that reading their Bible doesn’t work, I respond firmly by saying they are suggesting God’s Word is impotent (Isaiah 55:11; John 17:17). It reveals to me they are not seeing the forest through the trees, even if they are able to recite scripture verbatim. I believe they are reading their Bible, no doubt, but they aren’t searching for Truth; rather, they are looking for a magic pill to make all of their worldly problems disappear. As I dig deeper in these types of conversations, what I quickly realize is that these people have an unholy agenda (even though they don’t yet realize it).
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
– James 4:3
God gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). If you approach Holy Scripture the wrong way (e.g., with a worldly agenda), you will surely fail to realize the fullness of God’s grace. I’ve known lots of people who hyperfocus on the letter of the law (often publicly battling over it to the detriment of Christ’s good name – 2 Timothy 2:14) because they cannot stand to focus on the spirit of the law. I suppose in some ways this is because the fullness of what God has to say to them is too painful to hear, so they push it away. As a result, these so-called “educated” people are cold, void of true love for others.
If you don’t have love, you don’t have Christ – you’ve missed the boat! Your studies will be an exercise in futility that often spills over into the lives of others through petty arguments.
As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
– 1 Timothy 1:3-7
Ask yourself, what good is it if you have the letter of the law but lack the spirit of the law? What good is it to have knowledge void of the fruit of the Spirit, the first three being “love, joy, peace” (Galatians 5:22-23)? Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
Note that Jesus didn’t suggest that people would know His disciples by their knowledge. “’Knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). I am convinced that those who spend their spiritual careers seeking knowledge are running away from the spirit of the law, which is to love others the way Christ loved (Romans 13:8). It may sound funny to say someone is running away from love, but if you understand Biblical love, then you understand that what I’m saying is that people who run away from godly love are, in essence, saying they prefer their own selfish brand of fleshly love over anything God might fill them with. In other words, they love self more than God. “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25).
To open oneself up, in humility, to the love of God through the study of His Word is to become truly vulnerable before Him. It means you have renounced any self-righteousness or self-love in pursuit of Christ-righteousness and Christ-love. This is exactly what the Bible encourages us to do! If you miss this point, you’ve missed the purpose of Holy Scripture!
Let all that you do be done in love.
– 1 Corinthians 16:14
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
– Ephesians 4:15-16
My dear friend, we ought to approach God’s Word with an open heart and an open mind, looking to receive the fullness of Truth imparted to our souls. The letter of the law is merely the vehicle to get us there. It is the spirit of the law, Jesus Christ, that we ought to be seeking (Matthew 7:7). He is, after all, the very manifestation of love and the “fullness of grace and truth” (John 1:14; Colossians 1:6). Jesus didn’t just recite the law of love, He lived it. May we aspire to do the same.
Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
– 1 John 3:18
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins