Read carefully enough to understand the gist of the story before you react to it. You can do this by constantly asking key questions for precise observation—who? what? when? where? why? how? Don’t be concerned if you can’t find the answer to each question every time because not all of them will apply with the various types of literature found in the Bible.

In addition, apply what you read to all human experience; there will be examples of love, hate, jealousies, friendships, pride, despair, and other human qualities that we still see today. The Bible shows us human nature at its best and its worst. Keep in mind the stories are often descriptive rather than prescriptive–they show us the good and the bad as they really are rather than telling us how we should live in a perfect world.

Be sure to read with a pen in hand—mark up the text like you would any other serious book. This will force you to read critically rather than simply putting in the time, flipping pages. That means it would be a good idea to use a new, inexpensive Bible with wide margins rather than a family heirloom. Note key terms and people, jot brief comments in the margins, connect one event with another you remember reading before, argue with the author.

Finally, realize much of the Bible uses figures of speech in which a word, phrase, or an expression is used in an imaginative rather than a literal sense. For example, in the New Testament, the devil is called a roaring lion; let your imagination go as you picture the strength of a lion and the fear one could induce. I will cover figures of speech some other time in these blogs.