Use Scripture

Use Scripture, slowly.

Writing

Articles & Devotionals

Short essays on reading Scripture slowly, honest questions about the Christian life, and devotional reflections. Newest first.

  1. 4 min read

    Reading the Magnificat slowly

    Mary’s song is often heard only at Christmas, sweet and seasonal. Read slowly, it is a teenage girl singing of a God who topples the proud and keeps an ancient promise in her own body.

  2. 4 min read

    Reading Revelation slowly

    Revelation is treated as a code to crack or a film to dread. Read slowly, it is a revealing — of a slain Lamb who reigns, and of a world where God wipes away every tear.

  3. 4 min read

    The atonement, plainly

    Why did Jesus have to die? The cross can seem either obvious or arbitrary until you grasp what it was for. At its heart is one astonishing exchange: he took our place.

  4. 5 min read

    What 'worship' actually means

    Worship is not the song slot on a Sunday. The Bible means something far wider — a whole life offered to God — and it points to the one in heaven who is truly worthy of it.

  5. 4 min read

    Reading James slowly

    James gets a reputation as the book that argues with Paul about faith and works. Read slowly, it is not a rival gospel but the same gospel walking around in working clothes.

  6. 4 min read

    Communion, plainly

    Bread and a cup, passed around a room. It can look like the smallest of rituals. The New Testament treats it as one of the most loaded acts a Christian ever performs — a meal that remembers, proclaims, and looks ahead.

  7. 4 min read

    Reading Ecclesiastes slowly

    Ecclesiastes seems to say everything is pointless and then sits in your Bible like a problem. Read slowly, it is the most honest book you will ever pick up — and its restlessness has an answer.

  8. 5 min read

    What 'salvation' actually means

    Salvation is far bigger than going to heaven when you die. The Bible's word means rescue, healing, and new creation — a work with a past, a present, and a future, given by grace and aimed at Christ himself.

  9. 4 min read

    Reading Psalm 23 slowly

    Psalm 23 is so familiar we stop hearing it. Read slowly, it is not a greeting-card poem but a steady walk with a shepherd who finally has a face.

  10. 5 min read

    Generosity as worship

    Giving is often felt as a transaction or a tax — money out, obligation met. Scripture frames it as worship: a glad response to grace already received, patterned on the self-giving of God himself.