The simplest answer I can offer you is this: Read it in the expectation that it totally revolves around the reality of Christ.

Now, that may sound rather vague, but it really isn't. You see, our problem with the written word is the very same as our problem with life itself. We have learned to assume that there is no relevancy between our actual life and God. To help resolve our conflicts and confusion we have resorted to religion - NOT to God.

To this religious logic, any "communication" from God is designed to prove our inadequacies and failures, and then to offer the "appropriate" course of action to follow in the attempt to crawl out of our unfortunate hell-hole. The outcome of our religious mindset has redefined the Bible - as well as our gut-level view of life - so that it fits our expectations.

This means that as long as we read it in view of our expectations we will continue to view it in the same manner that we view our day to day living. But the truth is that Christ is not only the living center of the written word, he is also the living center of life itself. No, no, not life as we perceive it, but life as it really is.

The understanding of Christ is not only the understanding of the Bible, it is the understanding of life ... because Christ is the understanding of GOD.

Why do we get so screwed up by studying the Bible? Because we still insist that God gave His Spirit so that we can now understand the BOOK. This is so backward! It is just another way to say that the NEW covenant has been given so that we might live under the OLD covenant. The writings testify of God and His goodness toward us ... but the Spirit reveals Him to us.

The thing about reading the written word that convinces us that we are still under law is the assumption that we are. We see it in the Bible because we expect to see it there. Even when we start reading one of our favorite "grace" verses, we view it as if it has been nestled within a context of legalism ... and we hesitate to lose the verse by examining it within the expected law we believe is waiting to snag us. If we are certain there is a monster in the closet, then we will see a monster in the closet.

Personally, I LOVE reading the Bible ... but I do not read it to find God, or to get closer to God. No, no, no!! I am already as close to God as I can be because Christ has brought me into God, and God into me. The Bible does not cause the understanding of God, Christ has already given me the understanding of God.