Welcome to God’s Word to You
God’s Word to You today is found in
2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Mark 12:29-31
29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Religion is full of fallacies. And that is all religion. But this morning I am reminded of many of those concerning Christianity.
The biggest challenge in religion is it is the biggest weapon of Satan. And I see his hands in much of the division we see in Christianity. And so does the world though they don’t recognize him in it.
One problem I see is the Bible. Whaaaaat, you may say? Yep. Far too many Christians are so wrapped up in the Bible that they lose sight of God. Honest.
Think about it. And I promise you I have been there. We read the Bible, which is holy as far as I am concerned, and we take verses and seek to show how they prove our point, have one meaning (ours), and use them to condemn others who don’t read or see them the same way we do.
Yet year after year as I read it there are more often than not times I see something new in a verse. Its like I had to live and grow to see more than I did as a baby Christian. Honestly that is one of my main purposes in writing God’s Word to You. I want you to read scripture and see how He reveals different things to me so I can share that the Bible is true but also ever useful to see and know God as well as how as I grow I see Him more. But one thing I have learned is not to put it on a pedestal equal to or above Him.
But some do. And thus because they see scripture in one sense because they either were taught it at some point to be the only way to read it or have never matured past a certain point to see God trying to show them more, they decide they have been given a duty to make sure everyone sees it their way. And folks that sense of “being the one who knows” leads to pride.
It also closes doors. There becomes the “you have to do this”, “you have to believe this exactly as I say” mentality from the challenge of the “I am right you are wrong” attitude. We feel if we read the Bible enough that we become mental scholars who have this invisible pat on the back from God. We fall in the old “you have to be good for God to love you” lie and I am sooooo good because I know scripture.
Do I believe the Bible? Absolutely. Do I believe all of it? Absolutely. Do I believe we need it? Yep, absolutely.
But it is my doorway, my window, my guide to knowing God. It is His history book and His stories for me to see His ways. What it is not is a rule book or contract. It is not God. It has a purpose. And that purpose is to lead us to His love.
And that is what He is about. Love. It is why He saves us and what He wants us to show to everone. We have to get away from the “woe is me I am so horrible but thankful He saved me”, “God made me important so I can make sure others see everything I know” style of thought and get to the Jesus died to make me free so I need to rejoice and be glad in it as well as show it and share it with the world.
But we don’t share it with people when we hit them in the head with the Bible. Do we?
See, the world is about 2/3’s illiterate. Really. So if you want to share God with the world His love is the best door to use.
He used love. He showed it on the cross. He didn’t show, He didn’t preach religion. He didn’t use a Bible. He gave His life.
Use your Bible to know God better. Use His love in your life to know people better. Its the best way to let them see and know Him.
Amen? Amen.
me n’ God love ya
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I’d love to know how God is working in your lives and get to know you. Please feel encouraged to send any comments and thoughts.
Email me at Chuck.Acts420@gmail.com
in His service,
Chuck
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