Part 3: LEARNING HOW TO TRUST
2 Timothy 3:16–17
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
How much do I trust God’s word when it says hard things?
If you’ve traced the other parts of this article so far, you’ve seen that:
1. The Bible tells us that without God intervening in our lives, in our fallenness, we cannot understand God or the world He has created (Romans 3).
and
2. God speaks through His word to bring understanding to those who believe in Him (1 Corinthians 2:14 and 2 Corinthians 4:6).
So then how do we treat those words of God when they make us uncomfortable?
My fear is that some of us who know Christ might still value our own thinking over His speaking.
We are a society that constantly compares. Whether it be through the highlight reel of social media, comparing ourselves to people we may not even know, or comparing ourselves to others that we see on a daily basis.
So it seems to make sense that we compare everything, including the Word of God, against our own understanding.
But is that right?
We interpret scripture out of what we think makes most sense for God to say. I recently experienced this issue when reading through a book on the apostle Paul.
The author complained about other commentators on scripture in saying, “in the cosmic talk show, Jesus and the apostles are respectfully interviewing them, not the other way around.”
Now perhaps you don’t see a problem with the view she is advocating. You may ask, “Why can’t we think critically about the words of Scripture?”
To be clear, I do believe we should think critically. We should question and evaluate the text to ensure consistency across the various authors and derive information about God and our life with Him.
My concern is that becoming too critical toward the words of God may change the seat of authority.
Think about it like this... you are the host of your own TV show. You regularly bring in guests to interview. One day you extend the interview to Jesus Himself to come on your show. You ask Him the questions, you drive the content of the conversation by asking certain questions but not others, you determine the length of the conversation, you may even hold the microphone and only pass it to Him when you allow Him to speak. In this way, you maintain control of the conversation. You sit in the interviewer seat. You have the authority.
I hope we can all agree that would be a disrespectful approach to the eternal Son of God. But isn’t that how we approach His written words to us?
When we are confused by His words, don’t we just change the subject and move to something simpler? Or shut the book altogether and go on with our lives?
If these are the very words of God, why not lean in instead of leaning away?
When we are uncomfortable with His words, don’t we try to conform them into what we think He must mean?
Maybe you don’t see this in yourself but think about the church culture as a whole. What happens if someone doesn’t like what scripture says about marriage, sexuality, sin, hell, or God’s wrath?
It seems in the culture of our day we can explain just about anything away. Some would say that certain truths of scripture were only true for a certain period in history or for a certain culture.
But who gets to decide that? Who is in the interviewer seat? Who is in the position of authority.
We should want God’s word to interview us. We should want God to have the authority to show us where we are wrong in our thinking, immature in our actions, selfish in our motives.
And we should believe that the Spirit of God works miraculously through the word of God to bring understanding to the people of God. We should desire the profit of being complete as written in 2 Timothy 3:16.
God teach me. Reprove me. Correct me. Train me. Equip me.
Complete me.
We at Fellowship BIBLE Church should be known as a community that puts a uniquely strong emphasis on God’s revelation of Himself in Holy Scripture.
I urge you today, how are you building your life on His word?
Come back next week for our last part in this series titled “Learning How to Live”