The Importance of Visualizing Scripture

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The Bible is rich with imagery. I think sometimes we miss the deeper meaning of a passage because we fail to step back and admire the masterpiece that the author painted.

With that in mind, I like to illustrate Bible passages in the form of hand-drawn, 2-minute videos. Here are a couple samples.

Visualizing Romans 12:1

Watch this video first:

To me, the image of a human throwing himself onto a burning altar is alarming and even disturbing. Few other passages so vividly portray what it means to give ourselves to God.

The tension in this verse is heightened by its placement within the book of Romans. Paul spends the first 11 chapters describing God’s magnificent gift to mankind. Then he turns and spends the last 5 chapters telling us how we should live as Christians. Romans 12:1 is the critical hinge verse that connects God’s gift to our response.

I wanted this video to cause us to gasp at the extreme nature of this command, but also to see its necessity. How could we, in good conscience, give anything less?

Visualizing Philippians 2

Watch this video first:

Philippians 2 uses a lot of vertical language. Early in the chapter you see concepts like selfish ambition and conceit (Phil 2:3). Those words give the impression of trying to climb higher, stand above, and dominate over others. But Paul counters all that with the example of Jesus, who lowered himself.

I wanted this video to highlight this raising and lowering vocabulary, so that we could see the extreme nature of Christ’s example.

Take the time to visualize

So, the next time you read the Bible, take a moment to visualize the picture that the Holy Spirit painted for us. You may discover something you never saw before.

I create a new Bible video every week. If you found these videos helpful, you can join my email list and I’ll send you my newest video every Tuesday.