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Lately I’ve been troubled by the misuse of the Bible, and perhaps more deeply the complete misunderstanding of its aim, purpose, and the conditions and opportunities from which it arose. 

So this morning, while reading through today’s lectionary reading, I was looking at a small part of Hebrews and became overwhelmed by the amount of ways the passage could be abused if it wasn’t approached from a proper perspective.

And then it hit me, at a disconcerting but hopeful level, that I’m not always right. That I don’t always have the “perfect” perspective. And even if I did, there’s no way to get even a handful of people to see everything the way I see it, much less a lot of people. So where’s the hope?

Where’s the hope in that? 

Here’s what occurred to me:

At the heart of every moment of Scripture, from small to large, is the condition of the human heart. 

Now, you could make the argument that God is at the heart of every moment of Scripture, or Jesus, or something a little more holy. But all I mean is that the transformation Scripture is constantly beckoning and pointing to is primarily a matter of the renovation of the heart. 

So I think we mistakenly go to Scripture to quickly, both personally and communally (I’m thinking about the sermon here) with “what does God want me to do?”.

But perhaps we should be more content asking “who does God want me to be?”.

It’s an incomplete answer, but I find hope in it. 

Let’s start there.