new life fellowship

serving jesus christ the king

The Bible: Getting the Big Picture

A few years ago I got one of those photo-mosaic jigsaws for Christmas – you know the ones where a big image is made up of lots of little tiny images. What a killer! Probably the hardest jigsaw I’ve done. That type of image was in fashion for a while. You used to see them on advertising hoardings, and as you walked past all you could see were the individual images. You had to get away back from it to see the big picture.

So often it’s the same with the Bible. There are a lot of individual stories that we are familiar with: creation, David and Goliath, the birth of Jesus, his miracles, the crucifixion etc.. But how do they all go together? Or do they even go together?

A jigsaw is always easier to understand when you can see the big picture on the box. And so it is with the Bible. It isn’t just a collection of random unconnected stories. Even though it is a library of 66 different books, written by around 40 authors over the course of 1600 years in three different languages, there is a single plot line that runs through it from beginning to end.

Each of the small pictures, or stories, fits into this greater picture. Quite simply it’s all about the King and his Kingdom. Once you get the big picture then you can understand why each of the stories is included. For example, Jesus’ miracles are no longer just random acts of kindness, but each one displays in a different way the power of the King.

Have you tried to read the Bible and found yourself getting monumentally lost, and eventually setting it aside in frustration or boredom? That’s understandable. It’s a bit like trying to do a jigsaw without having the picture on the lid.

Over the next 6 or 7 Sunday mornings at New Life Fellowship we are going to be looking at this big picture, and seeing how everything fits into it.

If you have wondered what the Bible is all about, why not come along and find out for yourself? We meet from 10.15 to 11.30 in the Day Centre off Oliver Plunkett Road.