Apparently so. This is probably going to come across as a bit snarky, but I really do think we need to value what the Word of God truly has to say enough to study it, to revere it, and to interpret it with fear and trembling; then, just then, we may get it close to being right, even if we still remain not 100% certain that we have interpreted it right.
The Bible is nowhere near the self-improvement tool we think it is. Hear me out. The Bible is not meant to be a self-improvement tool, as if God created the world for your happiness and mine. God’s purpose in creating the world, and letting it run for eons, far exceeds our comprehension, let alone our happiness.
But we live in an age where we need to know that God exists to bless us. It isn’t enough for us to have been given the gift of life, even if our lives don’t barely resemble the beautiful garden of Eden ‘promise’, that God is going to give us the passage to our dreams. How’s it working out for you so far?
If only we can look at the truth of our lives we can see what rubbish it is to believe that God exists in the heavens to bring us our daily joy — that this is all that matters to the Lord of glory. So, if I get all things the way I want them, what happens to the person who also wants the same things that I want? Does God not care about them just as much as me?
When we look at a verse like Philippians 4:13 or Jeremiah 29:11, most of us Christians inwardly cringe. We feel we know what’s coming. And we are tempted to believe the ‘good news’, which isn’t really in any way The Good News, for the good news, capitalized, cost the Saviour of the world his life. Good News for us, for sure. But it has to cost us something of a transformed view of life before the cross to prove that we really get it.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” said Paul, when he spoke of joy in suffering. I don’t think it’s taking the Bible verse out of context when we experience joy in suffering, or even patience in suffering, through lament and tears and despair via a faith that does not give up; or a faith that thinks “on these [noble, right, pure, lovely, excellent and praiseworthy] things”; or a faith that “in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,” presents requests to God. THAT’S the strength of Christ that Paul is talking about; Jesus’ strength that only materialises by the peace of God when we submit our weakness to Him.
We too easily ‘claim’ the Word of God in our lives, because it makes us feel good. When we read it as an anaesthetic, it becomes just like any other drug, and then the Word of God is weakened to the level of superstition. But when we read the Bible, promising not to take it out of context, we respect God, and we worship in spirit and in truth as Jesus commended us to in John 4:24.
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