TODAY’S SIGNATURE VERSE ••• 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. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV)
PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• The other night, I met a woman who asked me what my business was and I told her I am a virtual assistant. She responded with, “Oh, is that still relevant?”
Friends—it was at this moment that I’m grateful that God did not give me the ability to think of sharp comebacks on the spot. I simply said, “Yes, it is” and turned around to join a different conversation.
As I have nursed the wounds from her rude words, it’s occurred to me how relevance applies to the faith we profess and the very Word of God. In our modern, “enlightened” culture, we flip through the pages of Scripture and are brazen enough to decide which parts are relevant and which are not. The arrogance of such is astounding.
Let’s imagine for a moment that we walked to a classroom. The subject of the classroom is not one that 1) we originated and 2) we cannot fully understand… but we arrogantly pull out the teacher’s outline and notes and with a cavalier attitude, pull out pages, tearing up anything we don’t think is relevant. I can well imagine the horror of the teacher who organized that lesson so that her students would learn.
I was never that good at school but I cannot imagine telling my teachers that the foundational principles they taught weren’t relevant—as if I were the expert in their subject matter.
Yet, we do this to God all the time!
Who do we think we are? We latch onto two words such as “Judge not,” pull it out of context of what Jesus was actually saying in Matthew 7, and then drop the mic, justified that we don’t need to worry about the other details. After all, Jesus said, “Judge not,” so the rest doesn’t matter.
Or does it?
Jesus also said many other things and that misquoted scripture aside, and when we pull things out of context or, ironically, judge the worthiness of the Scripture to our culture today—then we’ve devalued the relevance of God’s Holy Word! We essentially thumb our noses at God and with our attitudes and actions, we say we know better than He does!
It comes down to this—you either take God at His Word, even the parts that you don’t understand or that contradict what our culture says… Or you don’t. It is not up to us to determine what is or is not relevant. This isn’t a cafeteria line where we say, “Yes, I want the Grace and can I have some Mercy poured on top? But hold the Judgment and I only want a small portion of the Obedience. Hmm… the Bread of Life looks good, but I’m watching carbs. Oh, but I’ll take some of that Peace and Blessings. I’ll take two scoops of that, please.”
The Bible is relevant. It’s timeless. Cultures may change but people do not. And the Holy Spirit ordained God’s Word to be applicable to all who read it—no matter who they are or what they’ve experienced or what century they were born in… It is relevant. Yesterday. Today. And tomorrow.
Today, as you pray, thank God for His timeless Word! Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see every word as a gift that matters—full of truth that is relevant for your life and any situation you face!
SHARING ••• Please feel free to comment or share this blog with others. Also, download a free Bible-In-A-Year Reading Plan when you subscribe to www.MyGraceFullLife.com! ***Unless noted otherwise, all Scripture references are from the ESV translation.
