Don't be deceived

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Don't be deceived
Nov 5, 2009 at 9:32 AM
By
- cleanaturalady
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In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we, as Christians are told that every word of the bible is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. It does not, however say that all scripture is of equal importance. We have to be discerning in our lives in order to figure out the really important things that the bible is setting out to teach us. It doesn't make any sense that we, as CHRISTians should give more credence to Old Testament law or Paul's letters or any other passages in scripture than we do to the words of Jesus Christ himself. If we are followers of Christ, the things that he said in the Gospels should be of utmost importance to us.

If we are not going to make the words of Jesus Christ the most studied and closely followed words in the bible, then what is the point in being CHRISTian? Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40, " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.". What is difficult to understand there? He says clearly that Loving God with all your heart soul and mind is the first and greatest commandment and beyond that, the next thing we are to do is love our neighbor as ourselves. He doesn't waffle around about it, he states that ALL the law and prophets hang on those twocommandments. Nothing is more important than those two things. Those are not my words, Paul's words, Moses' words or anyone else's words. Those are Jesus' words. If we fail to love then we have failed at step one. After that, what matters if we have failed right out of the shoot?

Jesus was also strong on obedience and turning away from sin. That is true. There are many places in his teaching where he admonishes people to stay away from sin and to be obedient. He also knew that if we did not first have the love of God foremost in our minds and hearts we would not be able to keep ourselves in check (obedient and free of sin that separates us from him). Without keeping the commandment to love we tend to start finding fault with other people instead of keeping a watchful eye on our own behavior. We may even seek out scripture that supports our disdain for the way that other people live their lives. This is a way of hiding our own sin by creating a diversion and turning our judgment outward instead of inward where it belongs. Jesus knew our human nature would take over and we would fall into fault finding habits, that is why he made sure that we understood that our first priority is to love.

There is plenty of scripture to support the fact that sin is wrong and that we, as Christians need to turn our backs on that. It is not, however, up to us to look for ways to condemn other people for their sin. Jesus clearly tells us (Matthew 7:1-3) that if we judge others, the same measure of judgment will be placed on us. THE SAME MEASURE. We cannot go about subjugating other people and wrapping it up in a nice package and calling it righteousness. It isn't. When we say - I love that person, but... then we are not living inside the love of God that Jesus commanded us to live in. There are no buts in the love of God. The love of God is unconditional. It is patient and kind. It keeps no record of wrongs. It is not self-seeking, proud or boastful . (1 Corinthians 13). If we are demonstrating God in our lives and it doesn't look like the love that I just described, then we are FAILING.

And while we are on the subject of scripture I think it might be a good time to delve a bit deeper int the subject of discernment. We need to not allow our own prejudices influence the way we read the scripture. If we find ourselves being drawn to scripture that supports our own backward view of sin and the world, then perhaps we are not being led by the Holy Spirit in our interpretations. It is best to always keep in mind that even though the bible is the inspired word of God, we are not reading it as God, we are reading it with human eyes and with the comprehension of our own human brains. To limit God and what is meant by any given scripture by the standards of our human understanding is to bring God down to our level. This is a mistake. It says in Isaiah 55 that God's ways and thoughts are higher than ours. We can't put God in a human-sized box; he is too big for that.

I don't pretend to know exactly what is meant by every passage of scripture I read. All I can do is read it with an open heart to the teaching of my heavenly Father through the Holy Spirit. There may always be questions that are left behind but that is okay, because I do know that if I follow Jesus' first command to love above all else, things will fall into place nicely, just like he intended.

©KDV

ETA:

I love this song on this video. I often wonder myself what life would be like if we (Christians) really let Jesus live through us all. Think about it.

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Nov. 5, 2009 at 9:48 AM

I'm linking this to FB, Kim. You know why. :)

JoyeAustin

Nov. 5, 2009 at 9:54 AM

Beautiful Kim. Thanks for sharing.

DestMasters

Nov. 5, 2009 at 10:08 AM

Beautifully written as always, Kim.

KelleyP77

Nov. 5, 2009 at 10:22 AM

Beautiful journal Kim. :-)

clarewillow

Nov. 5, 2009 at 10:24 AM

Yup. What they said.

Guinhyvar

Nov. 5, 2009 at 10:56 AM

Without keeping the commandment to love we tend to start finding fault with other people instead of keeping a watchful eye on our own behavior. We may even seek out scripture that supports our disdain for the way that other people live their lives. This is a way of hiding our own sin by creating a diversion and turning our judgment outward instead of inward where it belongs.

Just had to highlight this section for emphasis. Really, if you sit there and judge others for the way they live their lives you are no better than the pharisees. The whole point is to become a better YOU through Christ not point fingers at others and claim why you're right and they're wrong. So many so called Christians miss this one simple lesson.