We said yesterday that we are safe when we know what we believe…but really the question is: do we know WHAT we believe? I comes move number two from the enemy in this Game of Destruction: “Do not pray, and certainly never read the Bible! After all, you won’t understand it…that’s for pastors and theologians, not you! And besides, it was written so long ago, how can it be relevant now? This is a new world, of course, people have become so much more intellectually advanced, what can this archaic book teach you?” And so on go his lies…and way too many people, eat it up, believing him and pushing their Bibles aside.
Here’s a truth: those who do not know Jesus as Savior cannot understand the Bible. Read 1Co 2:14 NIV: “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” (my emphasis) It hurts me when unbelievers dishonor my God, but I am not mad at them. It is like Jesus said, Forgive them because they don’t know any better. (Lk 23:34) This is like getting mad at a two year old because he cannot explain how planes can fly…ok I can’t either, but that’s my point. I do not have the background required so that I could understand. What I am learning to do for unbelievers is to pray for them, with sincerity, compassion and urgency.
Here’s why I do get so angry about this second move from the enemy though: while those who do not know Jesus as Savior cannot understand the Bible, “the Church” is supposed to help them understand! We are supposed to draw them to God, then He will open up the unbeliever’s mind and heart so they can understand, and hopefully, surrender their lives to Jesus too. But how can we help them if we, Church, don’t know what we believe?! I heard a well meaning Christian say that our current president is a good Catholic…but how can he be?! Catholics believe in the Sanctity of Life and Marriage, but he does not…but then again, many Christians don’t believe in this either because they do not know WHAT they believe in. It all depends on the current climate…or as I said yesterday, what current thing the enemy can use to keep dividing us. This is should not be so, my Friends. God’s Word will always stand and not buckle to humans because we are just children. We have to start with the Truth, then come to understand it. We do not get to pick and choose what WE want to believe. God said it, and we must learn to believe and live by it…because He loves us and wants whatever is best for us here, and then forevermore.
It is like what Joyce Meyer says, “Just because I sit in my garage all day, doesn’t make me a car!” My Friends, you are not a Christian because you go to church on Sundays… well most Sundays… if you don’t have anything more pressing, of course. A Christian is not someone who goes to church, and a Christian is not even someone who believes in Christ…well, more tomorrow
<>< Peace, Diane
