I can get easily frustrated. This blog is a confession of sorts, so I can be honest about this. I am not always the most patient of people. On the road. Waiting in line. Dealing with my kids. My patience can wane easily. Not only can my patience wear down, but my frustrations can easily rise when it comes to dealing with people who don’t think before they speak or act.
I get pretty frustrated with people who speak of things of which they know little about. Maybe you’ve heard the old adage that a person has just enough information to be dangerous. I have experienced this phenomenon too many times in my life. People get just enough information (or think that they know enough) to be dangerous and think they know what they’re talking about.
One of the most common (and most frustrating) places where I see this happening is in regards to the Bible. People know some verses in the Bible and they throw them around, neglecting the fact that those verses came from a specific context, yet disregarding that context. What’s even worse is when people THINK that they know a verse from the Bible and quote it all over the place both wrongly and out of context.
A case in point is 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” Now, how many times have you heard someone say, “Money is the root of all evil?” I’ve heard it too many times to count, yet often enough that I’m still frustrated every single time that I hear it.
You see, the Bible wasn’t meant to be a weapon against people. Yes, it’s the sword of the Spirit, but that kind of sword has a specific use in the spiritual realm. When you use something that was intended for one purpose to try to accomplish another purpose, you’re most likely misusing and even abusing it. The Bible was meant as a revelation of God to his people. We know God as he is revealed to us in the Bible.
Last week, as I perused around the internet, I stumbled upon a string of comments underneath a post. As I stumbled my way through the comments, I kept seeing people make comments about the fact that Jesus’ main message was about love. It wasn’t necessarily God’s love that the commentator was talking about, it was just love in general. At least that’s what I gauged from the comment.
Jesus came just to show us love? That’s it? Really? That seems kind of funny to me. I mean, Mother Theresa showed us love and how to love. Florence Nightingale showed love. My mom showed love. If Jesus just came to show us love, I think he might have been doing something wrong. That, and he may have wasted his life a little bit. If Jesus went to the cross just so that we could know how to love each other, that seems a tragic end for such a simple message.
In John 10, Jesus was talking to the Pharisees, those guys whom he butt heads with frequently. He said to them, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” So, Jesus came to bring people life? Really? That sounds different than just coming to show us a glorified picture of love.
Sure, I think Jesus’ message was about love, but it was more than just your average, ordinary, everyday kind of love. It was a sacrificial love. A life-giving love. A love of which no greater can be seen. Jesus’ words in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Love. That love was given in order that we would have life, not just any life, but life to the full.
Yeah, I was pretty frustrated when I felt like someone was completely missing the point with the message that Jesus brought. I was pretty frustrated with the fact that a little deeper reading might have resulted in a different interpretation of Jesus’ message. But you know the truth? I don’t know if I can really blame the person. In fact, I think the ones to blame might just be those of us who, for too long, have used the Bible as a weapon rather than the source of life that it is.
It’s kind of like misusing or abusing something under the observation of your kids. All of a sudden, you realize that they’re doing the very thing, and you might just be oblivious enough to think that they learned it somewhere other than from you. When we set the bar and show others how we use or abuse something, should we be surprised when they follow suit? Should we be surprised that our use of the Bible as a weapon against people begins to backfire on us?
What if we really began to take the Bible seriously? Sure, we say that we take it seriously. We throw around words like “infallible” and “inerrant,” “inspired” and “authoritative,” then we begin to second guess our claims, if not by word, by deed. Have you heard some of the criticisms lobbed at those of us who are followers of Christ? I wonder what would happen if we spent more time focusing on the teachings of Jesus and the Bible that we’re missing than the teachings of Jesus and the Bible that others are missing. Maybe we might see people paying attention to what we said and did.
Yes, Jesus came to show us love, but there has been no one, before or after him, that has shown us the kind of love that he showed us. His love was meant for life, not just to show us how to be nice to each other. I want to start living my life not only like I say it’s true, but like I believe it’s true. I don’t want to use the Bible as a weapon against anyone but spiritual opponents. I want people to see my life changed by love, I think that might be more compelling of an argument. If nothing else, it’s better than hitting them over the head with a Bible.
Confessions of a Recovering P.K. 