Whenever I binge a tv series, movie series, or video game I feel strange. As if I am emerging out of a realistic dream. Sometimes I have dreams so vivid, or dreams so emotionally powerful, that as I begin to wake up I’m still certain they’re real. Many mornings I’ve woken up convinced I would not be graduating from college because I failed an exam, for instance. I get the same feeling from binging entertainments. Once I’m done I’m, in some way, convinced I’m still in that world. As I look around everyday objects remind me of elements of that world. In the case of games, I see the world in terms of the mechanics and puzzles of the game.

I don’t hear a lot of people talk about this, but I can’t imagine I’m the only one who has had this experience. After hours of a game, or hours of a tv show, the reality of the entertainment bleeds into our own, and it takes some time to get fully back to reality.

The Bible is meant to function in a similar way. Surely the Bible tells us about God, God’s plan, God’s work, and God’s promise. But the Bible is more than declarative sentences. It’s not in the form of a theological treatise. The Bible has Law, poetry, prophecy, and story. The Bible tells us about Noah and the flood, Joseph sold into slavery, David and Goliath, David and Absalom, Daniel and the Lion’s den. It tells us about Paul’s shipwrecks and Peter’s visions. Most importantly, it tells us about Jesus, his parables, his life, his atonement, and his resurrection.

The Bible doesn’t just tell us about God, but tells us stories about God and about God’s people. And these stories are more than a simple recounting of what happened long ago. These stories are meant to tell us something about God’s work in our lives and in our world. They are meant to inform the way we see the world. So that when we are so enmeshed in these stories, when we binge the Bible day after day, we begin to see the world with a biblical eye. We see as God would have us see. So that, for instance, when we see a stranger we see a sister or brother. Or, when we see someone in need we see an ambassador for Christ. And when we see the plants sprout and flowers bloom we may see signs of resurrection.

This is why we return to the Bible again and again. The Bible, in this way, peels back our reality. It peels back what we think of as reality. So that we can see God’s reality. That we may see ourselves “praying like Peter, preaching like Paul.” When we face a tough situation we may see ourselves as having the courage of a Daniel. When we come to difficult decisions we may see ourselves as having the wisdom of a Solomon. And when we suffer we may see ourselves as bearing the marks of Christ. The Bible tells us the truth about what’s going on, the truth about God’s world. When we pour ourselves into the strange world of the Bible, we see as God would have us see.

In this way the Bible works in us. Soaking into our bones. That is the grace of scripture reading, and how the Spirit works through the word of God to make us more like Christ.