Not all that long ago, if you purchased a Bible, you could expect it to be bound in black leather, and printed on golden-edged, almost tissue-thin paper. Today, of course, we have a much broader selection. The Holy Scriptures now come in a variety of shapes and sizes—some with scholarly footnotes, others with cross references between the Old and New Testaments, and still others translated into a modern, more accessible vernacular.

However, while the Bible remains the most widely published book in world, there is increasing evidence that it far from being the most widely read. The average person on the street—or even in the pew—may be familiar with certain passages, here and there. But I’m guessing that many wouldn’t have a clue about where to find them.

So what happened? Why have the words, which are so central to the Christian faith, become so peripheral to the lives of those who profess that faith?

Well, for starters, there is the obvious problem of the Bible being difficult to understand. We may speak of it as a single book, but it is actually a collection of sixty-six different documents—all written by different people, to different audiences, with different agendas, and over the span of many, different centuries. Most folks who decide to sit down and read the Bible from cover to cover (as you would with other books) usually find themselves bogging down somewhere in the middle of Leviticus, and then abandoning the endeavor altogether soon thereafter.

But I actually think the issue goes deeper than that. After all, it takes time and hard work to understand computers too, but most people still make the effort because it seems worthwhile to them. And therein lies the chief problem with the Bible—at times, it appears as if there is this huge gap between its contents and the content of our lives. What does King David’s conquest over the Philistines, for example, have to do with our own international affairs? Does Jesus’ healing of the sick have anything to say that would be relevant for today’s practice of medicine, or how we should manage our health care system?

Admittedly, it would be nice if we could just look to the Bible for clear solutions to some of the complex situations we now face. But the truth of the matter is that we live in an entirely different kind of world, and many of the things that we struggle with are not addressed in the Bible—at least not directly, and certainly not in a manner upon which there is widespread agreement.

Moreover, you are not going to be able to turn to a particular passage of Scripture and find explicit direction on which job you should take, or how best to invest your retirement savings, or even which candidate you should vote for in the coming election. True, the Bible may be a great source of comfort in times of trouble, but in the opinion of many, it’s just not all that practical—especially in terms of making the daily decisions necessary to survive in our hurried, hectic, 21^st century world.

But despite such difficulties, I still believe that the Bible is a profound and incomparable guide for our lives and faith, just as it has been for the countless Christians who came before us. And I think the key lies in how we approach the Scriptures. Frederick Buechner once described it this way: “If you look at a window, you’re likely to see smudges, or dust, or perhaps the tiny crack where Junior’s Frisbee hit it last summer. But if you look through a window, you’ll be able to see the world beyond.”

In the same way, the Bible can become a window through which we see ourselves and our world. The Scriptures were never meant to be merely an ancient record of history, or a coded message for the future, or even a rule book filled with “Thou shalt…” and “Thou shalt not….” The Bible is an account of God’s faithful and longstanding relationship with humankind. And as we read, study, and reflect upon how God was at work in the lives of those from days gone by, we begin to get a clearer picture of how God is still at work among those who live today.

Simply put, the Bible is the lens through which we can understand our lives better. It is what allows us to see beyond the little room of our own time and place to the world which God envisions. And once we see that world, we can then be about the task of helping to establish it!