The Bible Hasn’t Changed—God Has Changed Me
Estimated reading time: 6 mins
For a long time, I honestly didn’t enjoy reading the Bible anymore.
Growing up in a highly exam-oriented education system, I became very good at acquiring knowledge. I naturally measured myself by how much I knew. After becoming a Christian, I unknowingly approached the Bible the same way—trying to accumulate knowledge and become familiar with Scripture, while neglecting a relationship with the One who gave us His Word. If you had given me a Bible knowledge quiz, I probably could have answered faster than many people who had been Christians for years.
However, over the past nine years of motherhood, I found it increasingly difficult to read my Bible. Busyness certainly played a part, but I now see that God was doing something much deeper in my heart.
Growing up as part of China's one-child generation, I became accustomed to being cared for by others. I rarely had to learn to put others' needs before my own before becoming a mother. Motherhood confronted me with failures I had never experienced before. Instead of letting those failures humble me and drive me to God's grace, I often allowed my pride to turn them into shame and discouragement.
As the years passed, my knowledge continued to increase, but my love gradually grew cold, and my relationship with God drifted farther and farther away.
Yet Scripture says, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” It also says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Until recently, my Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ, brought this wandering sheep back to Himself.
As God patiently tears down my pride and gives me a humble and teachable heart, passages I have read over and over begin to come alive.
This morning, my husband and I were talking about allowing each other to grow according to God’s timing. At the exact same moment, we both thought of seeds.
Even seeds planted on the same day do not sprout at the same time, nor do they grow at the same pace. In the same way, every child and every person has a unique pace of growth, designed by God and unfolding according to His perfect timing.
As I reflected again on Jesus’ parables about seeds, planting and growing, I realized that He was using the everyday things His audience understood to reveal profound truths about life, the Kingdom of God, and our relationship with Him. Passages that once felt familiar yet distant suddenly came alive to me.
Many people think the Bible is simply an ancient book written by people long ago—outdated and no longer relevant. But I have increasingly experienced that it is not merely a book from the past. It is God’s living truth that still speaks today and continues to transform lives.
As the apostle Peter reminds us:
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence.” (2 Peter 1:3)
When we receive Jesus Christ by faith as the Lord of our lives, the Bible is no longer just words printed on pages. It becomes God’s living Word through which He speaks to us, gives us life, and continually renews us.
More and more, I have come to experience how completely sufficient Scripture is. The gospel is simple enough for a child to receive by faith, yet profound enough that even the greatest theologians can spend a lifetime exploring its riches without exhausting them.
I used to think I had read the Bible too many times, and that there was simply nothing new left to discover.
Now I realize the problem was never that the Bible had nothing more to say.
The problem was that I needed God to change me.
The Bible hasn’t changed—God has changed me.
Through His Holy Spirit and His Word, God continues to renew my mind, shape my heart, helping me know Him, understand Him, and experience Him more deeply.
As Hebrews says:
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:12–13)
The One who gives life is God Himself, and He delights to speak to us, search us, and transform us through His Word.
I have come to realize that when I come to God with a humble and open heart, reading the Bible is no longer a heavy burden or a boring task. Instead, it becomes a precious time of fellowship with the living God, as His Holy Spirit uses His Word to search me, shape me, and transform me.
Lord Jesus said,
"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4)
May we all come humbly before the Lord Jesus, learn from Him, and allow God to renew our minds through His Word, so that we may know Him more deeply, love Him more fully, and delight in Him more completely. ❤️
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