Tuesday 4 December 2012

We need every Word that comes from God's mouth

"All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do." 2.Timothy 3:16-17
The apostle Paul made it very clear that in order for us as believers to know and be able to do what God requires, we need "all scripture" to help us achieve this. It is therefore important that we read every part of the bible to learn and receive discipline and instruction from God's Word. I often hear some people refer to certain parts of the bible as "not speaking to us" as they claim that God was only addressing a certain group of people, for instance, people will tell you that in certain parts of scripture, the message was only applicable to the Israelites and not to us. But Paul seems to hold a different view from this notion. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul addresses the church in Corinth who were also Gentiles or non-Jews like us. He reminded them of how the Israelites disobeyed God in the wilderness, and as a result, most of them suffered God's punishment. He then goes on to warn the Corinthian church in verse 11 by saying, "All these events happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us, who live at the time when this age is drawing to a close."

It is for this reason extremely important for each believer to regard every Word in the bible as God's way of equipping them to be who God wants them to be, and if one's goal is to grow in the knowledge and image of Christ, then one would do well to use every Word in the bible to make this goal achievable. Every Word in the bible reveals Christ, and if one has to deny other parts of God's Word, they are actually denying Christ, who is Himself the Living Word of God. When Satan tempted Jesus by saying he should change stones into loaves of bread, Jesus answered him by saying, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4. Jesus' answer to Satan concludes the argument that we need every Word that comes from the mouth of God. I've been around Christians who only claim and profess "positive" Words from the bible. They only fill their minds with God's promises and confess such Words with the belief that such confessions will shape their lives into what God had destined for them to be. What these believers do not realize however, is that you need every Word of God in order to become God's vessel of honor, even those parts of Scripture that does not sound very attractive. 

I have realized in my own life that God often uses passages that are mostly unconfortable to mould me into the person He intends for me to be. The process is often not a pleasant one as it often means heeding to his command and having to amend my ways. Scripture portions that have made a big impact in my personal life has mostly been those that rebuke me as opposed to those that profess blessings over my life, and with that I'm not implying that the latter are weak and have no positive impact in my life. What I am saying however, is that God is always faithfull to do His part, which is to bless us and to take care of us as the Scripture tells us, the challenge is for us to do our part by obeying what the very Scriptures teach us, which is something we are not always keen to do. It is one thing to claim and rely on the promises of God's Word, and it is another thing to obey God by doing our part. Abraham was promised a son by God, and he believed God, and in the end he received the promise because God always delivers on His promises. But later on God told Abraham to offer his only son Issac as a sacrifice to Him, Abraham had to do his part by obeying God, even when the command was not an easy one to obey. He believed God when He promised him a son, which was the best thing he could ever have hoped for. But when he had to sacrifice Issac, I don't think he was excited about the whole idea, but He knew that God had to be obeyed.

The question that we should be asking ourselves at this moment should be: Am I allowing every Word that comes from the mouth of God to influence my life? Do I believe and obey the Word of God in its entirety? If not, then I need to ask myself whether I am still living in the Truth or not. Anyone who lives in the Truth will obey every Word that comes from the mouth of God, why, because "All Scripture is inpired by God." Amen