Unprecedented times.
How many times have we heard that phrase over the last 6 months?
It seems as though our current world is sitting on the stove as the heat gets warmer and warmer, quickly reaching boiling point.
As a believer in Jesus Christ, my life is completely guided by my faith in God. While I won’t pretend that I do that perfectly in any case, it is true that it is my desire to be led by the truth of the Gospel in all aspects of my life.
I’ve been challenged, as I am sure many others have been as well, by how to respond to all that is going on in our world. While I do not know the answers to all of the questions we are facing, I do know one thing – if I allow my response to be shaped by this world and not by scripture, what good is my faith at all?
That question might seem a bit strange but hear me out. Why have a faith that isn’t going to guide the way that we live our lives? Why claim to believe a Bible that we’re not going to let affect the decisions that we make? If we say that we trust the Word of God as infallible and the true source of life – how can we draw boundary lines in our lives for what it does and does not get to control?
“One’s lack of belief in the authority and sufficiency of Scripture leads one to adopting defunct worldly ideologies and methodologies to understand and address the issues that plague mankind.” – Natalie | Kitchen of Oppression
I scrolled across this tweet a few days ago. As Christians, if we are grasping onto worldly ideals instead of those held up in scripture, what does this reveal about our true belief in the sufficiency of scripture?
Remember
Over the past year and a half, there has been one word that seems to rise above the rest in my mind – remember. I’ve been challenged through this phase of my life to remember often the character of God, His promises to us, and the truths found in His Word. With that I’ve also been convicted in this – how can we remember what we do not know?
As we face the tensions that we are seeing reveal themselves in our culture, how can we expect ourselves to cling only to things that are in line with scripture when we haven’t spent the time getting to know what scripture says? How do we find peace even in the midst of what seems to be doom and gloom times if we do not know the reason for genuine peace? How are we to encourage others towards the only true hope in life in the Gospel of Jesus Christ if it isn’t what we treasure most?
How You Spend Your Time
I’ve had to do some real soul- searching recently. I spend time watching the news, scrolling through Facebook comments, scanning blogs, and listening to countless podcasts seeking out answers. Why am I not putting the same energy into pouring over scripture day and night? Even as I write this my soul is crying out – God, I have fallen so short.
I have seen many Christians grasp onto to solutions to racial tensions, raging controversial politics, and coronavirus complications that are so far from what we claim to hold as the guiding source of our life. Why? It is because we don’t know it, or because we do not treasure it?
Those are hard questions to answer, but ones that I feel are necessary.
I fear that too many want to hold onto the Bible as a safety net, but they don’t want to hold it up to their entire lives, their political views, their relationships, their way of having discussions with others and so on and so forth to completely shape and mold who they are and how they live their lives. I include myself in that crowd.
Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
1 Peter 5:8 tells us that our enemy prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Do not be devoured by false and untrue ideologies and solutions that the world offers to you that the enemy has so creatively crafted to cause you to hold on to something other than God’s words.
I leave you with this quote:
“Softening Scripture always leads to bad doctrine. Where Scripture speaks firmly, we need to stand boldly.” – @Stopnconsider
Brothers and sisters – let’s not trade in the truth of Scripture and the hope of the Gospel for a worldly offering that leads only to death. Be guided by the Word of God – know it, study it, treasure it, and allow your life to be shaped by it. For in it we find the answers we need and the reason to hope. Though our world seems to be shaken, our God is not moved.
This article was originally published here at rememberingandrejoicing.wordpress.com. If you have a submission that you would like to share, send it our way!
