You got up late this morning after texting too long last night with your best friend about some random issue. Consequently, the kids and the dog were acting up this morning. Traffic was heavy and you spilled your coffee. You arrive at your interview five minutes late. “Sorry, sorry!” You feel flustered. You smile nervously. You have trouble answering questions about why you left your previous job. After an unusually short time, the interviewer thanks you and says she’ll let you know. 

Preparing Ourselves

The fact that some people actually go to job interviews like this is truly a dumbfounding thing. But they do! Anybody can have a bad day; but being unprepared for such a meeting is a different issue. No self-respecting person would ever go to a job interview completely unprepared like this—especially not for a high-level career move or a job that is worth anything.  Most of us would move heaven and earth to create for and in ourselves the right mindset, the right expectation, and the right spaces needed to help us put our best foot forward—not just to look our best, but to be our best self.

And create is the right word! We would make it happen! We would make sure we carved out the time we needed; get people out of our hair; wear the right shirt, tie, suit, or dress; spend mirror-time smiling and practicing question-and-answer; review our personal information to eliminate all mistakes; and think seriously about how to state clearly what we “plan to bring to this amazing organization”—as well as what we hope to find from it. We might not fret or worry over it. But we would certainly not think of going into such a meeting unprepared.

And then there’s the Bible: “the most important book in the history of the world”—we say.  The most important interview we will ever have. How do we prepare for it? Sometimes, Christians won’t even lift a finger to get ready for it. It’s the Bible! It’s supposed to be easy!

Creating a Mindset

How do we create a mindset worthy of entering into conversation with biblical authors through their texts? How do we prepare ourselves to Power-Read the Bible?

Some will immediately say “Prayer!” And of course prayer is vital. But prayer is a launching pad, not a hiding place, so let’s get even more disciplined and specific in our thinking: How do we go from watching Paul (or any other biblical writer) to actually engaging him in conversation?  How do we stop being an outsider looking in, and actually join in the conversation?

Do we simply mimic Paul or other biblical writers?

The answer is “NO!” We do not simply mimic anyone!

Christian Bible readers need to become clear about this: It is not our goal to duplicate Paul’s or anyone else’s culture or cultural methods. That is a huge mistake. It would be like dressing ourselves in the same garb as the Italian astronomer, Galileo Galilei, in hopes that we, too, might make great scientific discoveries. If that is our goal, we would do better to study his ideas, and then study science since that time, and then do our own thinking. Playing “dress-up” won’t really do much for us—except at a costume party.

Moving Forward

How do we consciously and strategically create a mindset for entering into conversation with biblical authors through their texts? That's our main question in this sub-series of 4 posts.  So, we'll take 3 more weeks looking at 5 principles to help us create a mindset for conversation. Our first principle, next week, will take a head-on look at the biggest pitfall most Bible readers fall right into—a pitfall that stops conversation dead in its tracks.     

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Click Here for the whole blog series:  Power-Reading the Bible 
 

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