Thursday; October 20

Every once in a while, someone will come up to me and ask me for my opinion about a biblical passage. Sometimes, when this happens, they are looking to develop a better understanding of a passage that is difficult for them, but other times they are looking for a loophole. Advice is said to be something that we seek when we know the answer, but don’t like it. All too often, when we know what we should do, but don’t really want to do it, we begin looking for ways to excuse our behavior and if we can find a “legitimate” way to accomplish it that’s a win for us (like asking the preacher for his advice).

Now, while it might seem like I am critiquing people looking for scriptural workarounds, the more pointed part of this discussion has to do with the advice-giver rather than the one seeking input. You see, sometimes to come off as being either friendly or insightful, we will over-analyze a passage and tweak it so that it doesn’t seem as black and white as it should. We, too, look for loopholes rather than promoting general truths. There are a couple of problems with this, but the one that really sticks out to me is the presumptuousness of changing the message of the Bible. What does it say about us when we attempt to buck centuries of biblical teaching with one of our ideas? What spirit do we display when we take the words of Jesus and say, “Well, He didn’t really mean what He said.”?

The Bible reminds us, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”. Let’s make sure we are standing firm on the inspired message of God. Remember, He doesn’t need us to explain His message, we need His truth to guide our lives.

Think About It!

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