You ever say something you didn’t mean? I know I have. Or sometimes I say something out loud I didn’t mean to say, and then have to say, “I didn’t mean it. I was joking.” To tell on myself a little, there are sometimes people say, “Keep me in your prayers.” And then I say, “Sure.” Honestly I would not be able to track of such a prayer list.
But the words of God are never empty. He never says anything He doesn’t mean. He is always intentional in His words. Even those large tracts in Leviticus are meaningful and intentional, though it’s a challenge to read through them. That’s why when someone says, “God told me” I really have to question it. Because when a person who is not known to be a prophet invoked this absolute authority of the Word of God, I have to wonder if these words are truth. You really can’t joke about this, or overstate your case. If God spoke to you, in actual words, then they would be on the level of Scripture. If you had a feeling or a conviction after reading a particular verse, then God spoke to everyone! And you just happened to finally get it. Please don’t assume the mantle of prophet, because God’s word also says to kill anyone who pretends to speak for God. Just fair warning.
James 3 says that those who teach are held to a much higher standard, because they are assuming the mantle of speaking the word of God. We must do so accurately. Why is this so important? Because it is the word of God. His word never fails, and everything He says is truth. We cannot play fast and loose with Scripture. Read with caution, but speak the truth.
Ouch! I hate having my toes stepped on by truth, yet here we are again. The Bible doesn’t pull punches, doesn’t care about my feelings. It simply states truth and I have to decide if I will follow or ignore. It may be 2019, but the Bible hasn’t changed it’s message.
This hit me a few days ago. The Babylon Bee (one of my new favorites) had a short article citing one person saying to another “It’s [calendar year], get with the times!” As if to say that because the calendar has changed (“It’s 2019!”) we should change with it. It is not 1950, or 1900. It’s not even 2000 anymore. But do our lives and values fluctuate with the date? Because it’s 2019, does that mean that gay marriage is ok now? That abortion is no longer murder? That socialism is suddenly preferred? Do we check the date before we check our morality? That’s absurd.
The calendar changes; our culture changes. Time passes. But the word of the Lord will always remain. As I’ve noted before, as our culture becomes more accustomed to the gray area, the idea of black and white will become more offensive. The sharpness of the word of God draws sharp distinction between light and dark, good and evil, black and white.
Warning: if you choose to live your life by the Word of God and not by the calendar, people will call you narrow-minded, homophobic, anti-choice, maybe even racist and bigoted. They will say you don’t see the big picture, or appreciate the greater good. They will accuse you of being deluded, following fairy tales, and ignoring reality.
I’ve been around for four decades. I’ve never seen the Bible proven wrong. I’ve seen it challenged, but never overcome. Science and philosophy both have tried. Neither has been able to do that the Bible can, explain the world and reality in a way that is consistent and makes sense. I will grant that maybe I’ve been too long in it, and don’t know enough of the way of the world. But for me, you can keep it. I’ve seen enough of the brokenness of the world. I’ve seen enough of the vain attempts to try it without God’s word and found them wanting. Nope. I will hold to the word of God. I may cut myself on it occasionally, but that is surely better than the alternative.
God bless you today and stay in the Word!
it would be really easy to take this out of context. Here’s the whole verse.
Both a command and a warning. How interesting. This is how most heresies get started. People see a snippet of a verse like the picture above, and totally forget that the passage has a context, a particular meaning colored by the text it is found in. Peter is saying that because we are Christ’s we are not bound by this world, however, we are bound to Christ, and we are to live for Him, and not use our freedom as license to do whatever we want, which is the implication of the picture.
Never take one of these verse pics for granted. Please take the time to consider the verse in its context.
God bless you on this Wednesday.
Just as prayer is the breathing out of our conversation with God, so the reading of His word is the breathing in. So this month, it is time to take a deep breath.
God’s Word says that it is sharper than a two-edged sword. It cleaves even the soul from the spirit. It is so sharp that it can divide the old man from the new creation. It is a useful tool to have, a lot like a pocket-knife.
When I was much younger, my dad gave me my first pocket-knife. It was a camping knife, with one blade and several utensils, including a can-opener, fork and spoon. I didn’t carry it around much then because I really didn’t need all these tools all the time, and of course, you couldn’t take it to school. So I never really appreciated that knife. But, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to see my pocket-knife as an indispensible tool.
I’ve moved up to a multi-tool knife, with the requisite knife, but this one also has a couple screw-driver heads, wood saw, and even a corkscrew, for those special occasions. On countless occasions, when I’ve needed to tighten a screw, or install a piece of hardware for the bathroom or a computer, just having that piece of metal in my pocket has made the difference between looking for a tool, and getting the job done.
I’ve found the knife useful over the years, but nearly lost it in St. Louis. I was attending a Glenn Beck – Bill O’Reilly tour date and got all the way up to the gate. But there I saw that security was scrutinizing everybody, looking through pockets and pulling out anything that looked dangerous, including pocket-knives. I started to panic, because I didn’t want to lose this knife. I managed to hide it in the bushes outside the entrance. And I worried about that knife all the way through the show, until I could get my hands on it again on the way out. It is a rare occasion that I do not carry this knife.
So, like my pocket-knife, I hate to go anywhere without a copy of the Word somewhere on my person. I feel naked without it. Whether it’s a physical copy or an electronic one on my cell-phone, the Word of God is that important. I hope that by the end of this month, you will feel the same way. The Word is far more useful than a pocket-knife, and nourishes the soul. May you learn to love the Word, and cherish it. Breathe in, breathe out.
Posted on July 22, 2018 July 19, 2018 Categories BibleLeave a comment on Oh How I Love Your Law!