Read it For Yourself

You know those verses that are often citied in conversation with Christians, and spoken in churches?  Maybe you’ve heard some of these:    

“God helps those who help themselves”

“Money is the root of all evil”

“God will never give you more than you can handle”

Yea, me neither. I have read, searched, and re-searched. None of these sayings are actually written in the Bible.

You might be thinking, “but wait, I heard my Pastor tell me (this)”, or “my great friend who has been a strong and mighty Christian for years said (that)”

Me too. I’ve heard it myself, and used to believe some of these were in God’s Word too and that I should be living by these virtuous sayings. That is until I began reading the Bible for myself.

In some cases scripture supports the messages behind many of these types of sayings, but in others it completely contradicts them. 

Saying: “God helps those who help themselves”

What the Bible actually says: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

God did not meet us halfway.  He met us where we were at; in our sin.  A complete contradiction of  “God helps those who help themselves.”

Saying: “Money is the root of all evil”

What the Bible actually says: “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.” I Timothy 6:10

Money isn’t the root of all-evil, the LOVE of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Big difference when you take away that very important word "love"! Another point of clarity that is critical!

Saying: “God will never give you more than you can handle”

What the Bible actually says: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

Paul clearly states God will not give you more TEMPTATION that you can handle. It has been my experience that God will absolutely give you more than you can handle in life so that you have no choice but to rely on His strength to get you through! I’m certain many of you reading this would agree as well!

Beware…

What you must be careful of is accepting what anyone says, even me. Even this blog!

I’m here to tell you that people will lie, twist, or manipulate God’s Word. Seriously!

And You will want them to!

This idea is not new to our time. It was mentioned in the Bible numerous times, including in the Apostle Paul’s Second letter to Timothy.

“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:3-5

Paul is warning us that there will be teachers around us that are not pursuing the truth of God’s Word, but rather manipulating God’s Word to fit their agenda; and it may not be done purposely (though it certainly could be). A teacher could feel strongly about a particular ethical or social justice issue and pull out small portions of scripture to fit their agenda. This is referred to as Proof-texting, or “scripture plucking”, because it takes passages of the Bible out of context. 

Even the slightest change to some passages can completely change the author’s intended meaning behind them.  

Bad desires lead to bad theology!

As Christians, Paul is warning us to guard our hearts from just accepting what others say as truth. His encouragement to Timothy is to continue to pursue the work of an evangelist, Timothy’s calling.  His encouragement to us is no different: Pursue what you are called to do for His Glory!

 

He further warns us about our own itching ears.

We like to be surrounded by those we agree with, and also who agree with us. It’s just coded in our nature. It makes us feel good, and accepted. However, that mindset can be a dangerous one if we are not inviting others to challenge why we believe certain things, or always seeking more clarity as we grow.

My encouragement to you is to read God’s Word for yourself and beware of anyone who tells you otherwise. 

After reading, think about what it says to you. Pray for understanding! What are you taking away from what you just read? Then find someone else, or a Bible study, and talk about it. Listen to what they understand the passages to say and draw your understanding from there as well.  There will be times when you will realize you’ve been wrong, and other times when you’ll help to show someone else the truth of what God’s Word really says.

The important aspect is that you are not taking another person’s understanding as truth without testing it!

I’ll conclude with the mother of all sayings that is not in the Bible. This one really gets me fired up…

“Moderation in all things”

While that is certainly applicable to television, food, exercise, social media, and many other things of this world, this is absolutely not applicable to Jesus. 

There is no such thing as too much Jesus!

Stay in God’s Word! Test all things with it, so that when the time comes and someone says:

“To thine ownself be true”

You can say :

“That’s Shakespeare not Scripture!”

“Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.  May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:20-23