Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life.

In the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Keith Simon.

When I first became a Christian in college, I met some other Christians who used Bible verse memorization cards to help them memorize the Bible.

They carried these little cards around with them, and each card had one Bible verse written on it.

First, I just want to say, what a great thing to memorize scripture.

When I started using those cards, one of the things I recognized is that I wasn't getting the

context that the verse appeared in.

And context is so important because it helps us determine the

meaning of the verse. The best way to read the Bible is not to read isolated verses out of context,

but instead to read the Bible in big sections, maybe even whole books in one or two settings.

That way you understand what the biblical authors were trying to communicate.

And when you read through the Bible in big portions,

you soon discover that the Bible isn't about you.

The Bible is about God.

It's God's self-revelation to us.

When we read verses in isolation,

and by that I just mean not in the context that they

appeared in, we can fall into the trap of thinking that those Bible verses were written to us

and are answering our questions about our life. But the Bible wasn't written to you. It was

written for you, but it wasn't written to you. And when you read bigger portions of

scripture, you realize that the Bible isn't about you. Again, it's about God. So when we open up

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