...use of the Bible is not superstitious or magical, precisely because there is a natural connection between a proper use of the Bible and its ideal result: union with Christ. The Bible expresses the mind of God, since through its pages God himself speaks to us. Thus we, in understanding the Bible, come to share His thoughts and attitudes and are even quickened by the Word to have his life. The Scriptures is a communication that establishes communion and opens the way to union, all in a manner perfectly understandable once we begin to have the experience of it.

We will be spiritually safe in our use of the Bible if we follow a simple rule: read it in a repentant manner. That is, read with readiness to surrender all we are, all of our plans, opinions, possessions, positions. Study as intelligently as possible, with all available means, but never merely to find the truth and still less merely to prove anything. Subordinate your desire to find the truth, and your desire to have others do the truth, to your desire to do it yourself! - In Search of Guidance, by Dallas Willard, p. 172

The Gospel of God is not that Jesus died for my sins only, but that He gave Himself for me that I might give myself to Him. God cannot accept goodness from me. He can only accept my badness, and He will give me the solid goodness of the Lord Jesus in exchange for it (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, by Oswald Chambers, p. 23