The Weekly Focal Point - July 12

Reading for Enjoyment?

I recently read an article based on the stated premise that “the Bible should be read for one’s enjoyment.” With that objective, it was no surprise that the rest of the piece consisted of the author aggressively working to convince his readers to purposefully disregard and ignore any parts of the Bible that would make them feel uncomfortable or might impinge on their modern sensibilities. Of course, the author wanted his readers to affirm his premise and dutifully conform to his directives, regardless of “how difficult it might be to alter their traditional views” of the Bible. This was a classic example of how seriously we expect other people to take our words, even while we sit in judgment of God’s words. Sometimes we have difficulty seeing the irony in how vehemently we seek for our own ideas and thoughts be clearly heard and accurately understood, while seeking to devalue and emasculate God’s thoughts and ideas. No, the Bible was not given for our enjoyment. God has spoken through the apostles and prophets so that we might carefully understand him and dutifully obey his voice. He does not want us to sit in judgment on his inscribed truth, picking and choosing what we prefer. Instead God has promised, “to this one I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:2).

-- Pastor Mike

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