Buffet Table

5/17/18     Felix   (video)           23

Do you have any beliefs from the Bible that you don’t like?

I was out talking on a sidewalk with a young man named Felix, and I asked him that question because he had told me that he “picks and chooses” what he wants to believe from the Bible.   Many of us do that, especially as seekers or young and/or immature believers, because so much of what we read in the Bible is contrary to our self-centered nature.  The temptation is to choose or focus on those beliefs and scripture passages we are attracted to and ignore the rest, like one chooses their favorite foods at a buffet table.

But if we are really committed to God as Lord of our lives, then we need to be open to the fact that He may act in certain ways and require us to do certain things that we don’t necessarily like or agree with.  The “Kingdom of Heaven” that Jesus spoke of so often must have a King, and it isn’t ourselves.

The second commandment reads “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them…”   Although we may not be making a physical object such as a statue to worship, are we not creating a false image of God in our imaginations when we pick and choose what we like about God and reject the rest?

It is true that our understanding of God will never be complete.  For this reason we as Christians misrepresent Him to the world to varying degrees as children of God who bear His Name.  But we don’t need to stunt our growth by rejecting aspects of our knowledge of God on purpose, just because we don’t like what we hear.

In his second letter, Peter wrote that “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”   He goes on to write what that godliness looks like, about things like faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, mutual affection, and love.  

But how can we be godly if our understanding of God through His word is only growing gradually?

Peter reassures us in vs. 8 that “…if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We can’t be immediately mature in our knowledge of God or in godly character.  That isn’t possible for us and it isn’t how God chooses to work.  But we should be growing toward maturity – in “increasing measure” as Peter put it. 

 

And part of that means receiving whatever knowledge and revelation of Himself that God gives us through His word, whether we like it or not.

(P.S.  I invite you to “sit in” on our conversation!  Watch it on YouTube HERE )