THE PROBLEM

In his new book The Truth and Beauty, author Andrew Klavan writes about a late-night conversation he had with his adult son, Spencer.

Klavan was expressing his frustrations with trying to understand some of the teachings of Jesus: 

"I don't understand the Sermon on the Mount. The thing is, I have this intense feeling that it all does actually make sense somehow. It's like a beautiful picture, but it's blurry to me. I feel if I could just turn the lens a little bit this way or that, it would all come suddenly into focus. But I can't seem to do it."

At this Spencer replied, "Maybe the problem is that you are trying to understand a philosophy instead of trying to get to know a man."

This response floored Klavan. He writes, "I recognized this on the instant as the single smartest thing anyone had ever said to me." 

Approaching Scripture in an attempt to "understand a philosophy" is quite different from reading with the goal of getting to know God Himself.