Monday, September 1, 2008

"What's the Real Problem?"

People are always searching and seeking more from God's word. I am thankful when people study for themselves, looking deeper into the truth of God that He has revealed to mankind. I want to encourage people to study and accept what is written. There is a dangerous part of this. Some look with wrong motives. They seem to seek things that one cannot find in revealed Scriptures, but they think they have found them. They end up twisting or manipulating God's word to suit their personal thinking. I have met many of these types over the last 28 years and there is something that they all have in common: they never seem to share their "insight" with those of us who are sincere in our seeking out the truth. If they do share it, it is blasting and condemning or they make is so confusing you have no clue what they are saying. (Simplicity was always a strong suit of Jesus and His apostles.) If you watch such people, they are "stand-offish" or elusive from the rest as they believe they found the real answers, while ignoring the simple truth of loving the brethren, helping each brother and sister in their walk. (I John 5:1-2)
How can we make certain that we can know the truth as revealed in God's word? For some, they believe that we have not been given enough in the revealed word of God. They long for, seek out an exhaustive blueprint wanting to know every turn and twist on this thought and that. Good, loving, faithful and sensitive servants of the Lord do not need exhaustive blueprints about our life and worship! Why? Because they trust the Lord in His revealed word and whole heartily respond to what is written! If God has not given us a detailed, blow by blow blueprint of each and every avenue of our lives, He knows something we don't: He knows we don't need to know it!
The way one goes about to live and grow in the revealed truth we have is to embrace what we have been given! I know some think that is too simple, yet the church at Corinth was corrected for their minds being led away from the purity and simplicity of the truth by the deception of the devil (II Cor. 11:3). Sometimes people smarts get in their way of a heart of trust and accepting the revealed truth. (God's word reveals knowledge makes one arrogant but love is what builds people up. I Cor. 8:1) They simply think there is more that we don't know and they are going to find it. It carries them away into a hurtful mind set and will eventually destroy them! (I have personally witnessed this many times.)
I personally believe that God does not need to add one more single word to Scripture. We have all we have and it is explicit enough. Too many seeking out all this "special knowledge and insight" miss the point. Read carefully Romans 12:1-3. Paul insists that the mercies of God should be what motivates each one of us to present ourselves back to God so we can be transformed into His likeness while saying no to the world. It will lead us to knowing what is good, acceptable and the perfect will of God! Right there we have all we need to know. Obey and offer yourself without reservations or haggling over what this means or that means. That's where knowledge seekers fall short. The first thing about offering yourself back to God and renewing your mind is stop thinking more highly of yourself! What do all these who seem to think they find some "special insight" do that others do not? They think more highly of themselves and their aloofness shows it! Their smarts get in the way of faith. Edifying the brethren, encouraging one another toward the Lord is not sought. If they do, they will select a very few they feel closer to while stating the rest just would not understand. That's not coming from God and His revealed word. The real problem is not a lack of information and seeking the truth revealed, it is a lack of "transformation"!

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