The writer Evelyn Underhill says that we can approach the Bible as either a picture or a window.2 Sometimes God’s Word is there simply to be studied with admiration and fascination, like a great work of art. But if we only ever do this, we are committing idolatry—worshiping the Bible itself. God has given us the Bible to point us beyond the Bible. That’s why it’s essential (I can’t say this strongly enough) that we learn how to approach the Bible as a window frame as well as a picture frame, not just looking at it but also through it to the world, and the Word, beyond.
