The whole truth

One thing that irritates me a little bit is the sad level of biblical knowledge that most adult Christians possess.  I'll even go as far as to specify Christians who have been in church since an early age.  Sure most of us know the stories from Genesis and Exodus, and we're familiar with the accounts of King David, and a few of us are familiar with some of the prophetic writings.  And of course the New Testament is what we mainly focus on; and why not, that's where we learn about Jesus right?

Well, this is my point, I think most born-again believers gain a great education about Bible stories as children.  Unfortunately, this is how much of the Bible remains in our minds, as children's stories.

We all know about Moses confronting Pharaoh and parting the red sea, but did you know that a little before that God would have killed Moses if his wife had not touched him with their son's foreskin? (Ex 4: 24-26)

Did you know that it took a horrible rape crime to catalyze the tribes of Israel to start to come together to one kingdom? (Judges 19:25-26) (I literally cried when I read the account)

We are all so ready to blame the Devil for the bad circumstances in our lives, but the book of Habakkuk teaches us that God will use our enemies to bring judgement upon us so we will turn back to him.

And we all know the famous line from Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  But I think Paul would throw down some righteous condemnation on us if he knew we use this verse like a lucky rabbits foot.  We will quote this as if it were some kind of good luck charm echoing the sentiment that our parents used to tell us, "you can do anything if you put your mind to it."  The truth is that Paul is trying to communicate that with the strength of Christ he can endure the worst circumstances and still give praise and honor to Jesus.  If anything we should use this verse as encouragement to stay in our unfortunate circumstances, not to get out of them.

I'm not saying that every believer should take a Bible class, but I am saying that every believer should READ the Bible.  Its not that it makes you more Holy, or adds points to your celestial account,  but it bleeds spiritual ignorance from your faith.  Furthermore, when we can start to see how the Old Testament is completely congruent with the life and teachings of Jesus, we can more accurately reflect the love of Christ through our lives.

So even if you have to skip a blog reading or two to get in some time with the Word of God, go for it and be blessed!

"Crush the boxes, break the frames, dance off rhythm, don't be tamed"