Day 2406 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.
2 Timothy 3:16 NIV
The Bible is a gift meant to help us. But we can quickly fall into this place where we end up using it to justify what we're doing. People can always find a way to twist and turn something to fit any kind of narrative that they want to fit. Taking the Bible out of context is sadly more common than simply being corrected by it. Now I know that people just want to be left alone to sin as they see fit. But using the Bible to justify our favorite flavor of sin isn't anywhere close to okay. It's straight up dangerous.
Last night my mom shared this conversation that she saw somewhere online where the Bible was brought up. But sadly, this person was using the Bible to justify what they wanted it to mean. They even went so far as to say that the modern translations were "misinterpreted" and therefore didn't actually mean that the topic of this conversation was actually bad. I've seen some pretty questionable takes on things, but saying that the Bible has been misinterpreted may be the biggest stretch of them all.
The Bible is our physical source of truth. It's the collective lessons inspired by God that are still useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. But those things aren't comfortable. They go against what we inherently want as sinful beings. Our sinful nature doesn't want to learn, to be criticized, to be scolded, or to face the fact that we've done wrong. We want to be left comfortable and cozy inside the sinful ruts we've carved out in life. And that's why we need the Bible and all the hard lessons that it holds.
Scripture is meant to open our eyes to the inconvenient truth that we'd prefer to ignore. It's meant to shake us to the bone and inspire us to do better. It's there to help us learn where we've gone wrong and help us turn around to the path that leads to righteousness. We cannot twist the Bible to fit what we want it to mean. What we want is the problem! We want sin. We want pleasure. We want power. We want to call the shots and do it all our way. That's the problem! Our way is what led us away from God and left us lost and drowning in sin and shame.
If our version of faith or our understanding of the Bible involves glorifying ourselves or validating our sins then we've missed the plot. If we're able to read the Bible and still feel okay about the sin in our lives then we're doing it wrong. The Bible isn't about making us comfortable. It's about realizing that when left to our own devices, we're choosing sin. And that's not okay! The Gospel is there to help us understand that our way is broken and in need of the healing that is only found in the blood of Christ that covers our sins and opens the door for us to walk a better path.
We simply can't skip over the parts of the Bible that confront the things we're doing wrong. We can't browse through different translations looking for one that doesn't cut quite so deep. We can't afford to take the sting out of the Bible because we need to face the painful truth that we're wrong. That's where so many jump ship or veer off into creating some weak and worthless religion. We can't stand the thought that we're wrong or that we've messed up. But that's just the facts my friends. And trying to avoid that truth will only keep us lost in the dark.
If Scripture says it's wrong, it's wrong. It doesn't matter how fun, enjoyable, or comfortable it may in our eyes. Again, what we want is the problem. Spinning the Bible to fit what we want it to mean or going so far as to convince ourselves that it was interpreted wrong will only lead to this twisted mindset where some sins are okay only because we want them to be. That's never going to be good enough. Let the Bible sting. Let the truth of God cut deep. That's exactly what we need because that pain is what will push us to leave our sins behind and fight to do better.
We have to get it through our stubborn skulls that we're the ones that drifted away from God and that we seriously need His mercy and forgiveness. We don't need to be comfortable or justified in our sins. We need to be refined in the fire of God's truth. Do not settle for anything less because anything less will only lead further in the wrong direction.
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