Serious question

I’ve been reading through Leviticus lately, and a thought occurred to me. More of a question actually.

How is it that we know which of the commands in the Bible to still follow when there are so many that we’ve thrown by the wayside?

We have chalked so many up to being written for a certain people and culture. Yet there are others, written in the same places, that we still take very seriously.

I’m not trying to say that we shouldn’t follow the commands of the Bible. Just honestly trying to figure out why we hold some as sacred and laugh off some other ones.

Witnessing

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.” Matthew 5:16

I believe that the best way for us to witness to those around us in our daily lives is by the way that we live. It’s not that we can’t witness with our words. I think that we can and should do that too.

But if our words are the only witness we give and our actions do not match our words, than we are doing much more harm than good.

I’m not always the best at this.

I try to let my actions be my witness to those around me. But I can’t really say that I do that very well.

Let alone, when it does come time to witness with words face to face with others, I’m completely at a loss for words. I can never figure out what to say.

Too many times I’ve fallen back on my quiet happy guy routine and haven’t spoken up when I could have.

It’s a struggle that I’ve always had.

Between being liked and people knowing what I truly believe, I almost always have chosen to be liked.

It’s not something I’m really proud of. But it is the truth.

I feel like I should ask God to give me the strength to speak up about Him, but then I run the risk of having my prayer answered with more and more opportunities so share with others.

I just pray that I can live my life in such a way, that those around me can see something different in me, and that if they ask what that difference is, I have the courage and words to speak truthfully about my faith.

God can use even a sinner like me

I was reading this morning and in both my scripture and my devotional, which are separate plans, the same theme came up.

So, I’m taking God’s advice and I’m gonna go ahead and write on this again. I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about this before. But maybe I’ll have some new insight today.

I was reading in 1 Timothy 1, where Paul is talking about being the worst of sinners, and yet through God’s grace and mercy God is able to use Paul to His glory.

In my devotional Billy Graham talked about St. Augustine and John Newton, who were both not good men before they had an encounter with God and were forever changed.

It brought to my mind that it seems like God chooses to use the worst and lowest of sinners to do His greatest works.

It seems so contrary to the way most people would think to do things.

But I do believe that He does this very much on purpose and for a specific reason.

God chooses to do this, so that it can be shown as Him working through us and not just us doing things on our own power. He changes that hearts and minds of people who seem unlovable and unchangeable, so that we might be able to see God working and know that the things people do they are definitely not doing on their own, but through the grace and power of God.

I also believe that God uses those of us that don’t think we can do anything good. All we have to do is trust Him and step out into the things we feel He is calling us to.

I know there are many times when I don’t feel I am worth much of anything, and that I don’t think anybody should even bother to listen to me. What do I know that others don’t already know? What do I have to say that hasn’t already been said? Why would anyone really want to listen to me at all?

And yet God calls to me time and time again to share my thoughts. To share my voice. To step out into the water and trust that He will keep me safe.

I guess what I’m trying to say, is that God has a way of using those of us that couldn’t do any of this without Him. On my own I would have no wisdom to share with you. No songs to sing. No words to hear.

But with Him I can do all things.

This is amazing grace

Over my life, I’ve been struck by the grace that God has shown me.

By no means am I deserving of any of the things that God has given to me.

In fact, I would say that I have wasted and taken advantage of most of the gifts God has given to me in my life.

But yet the amazing thing about God is that no matter how many times I fall short, He is right there to pick me up and dust me off.

He has always been there.

Even in the times when I didn’t think He was. He was there.

Even in the times when I ran away from Him. He was there.

No matter how many times I’ve spit in His face and turned my back on Him.

He is still there.

Waiting patiently.

With a loving smile on His face.

And outstretched arms.

Just waiting for me to run back and except the ever abundant grace that He has stored up for me.

The real question is; Why do I, knowing this, still turn my back and run?

Open for interpretation

First off, sorry for the long hiatus. It’s been a long, crazy, hectic, and busy summer. But hopefully I can now get back into the habit of writing some more.

I wrote a whole post today and then deleted it because I realized that I wasn’t sure if the stories actually connected the way I had originally thought they did.

If they did, then I promise you I made some great points and it was a great post.

If they didn’t, which at the end of it I just wasn’t sure anymore, then I still may have made some good points but it really wouldn’t have been a good post in my opinion.

But, it brought to mind how easy it is to read the Bible and connect things in it in any way you want to. You can twist the words around anyway you want to prove any point you want.

This is true with anything. But I think is used more with interpreting the Bible than anything else.

We have our opinions and we search through the Bible to find things that back up our point and use them to prove everyone else wrong.

If you are pro-war, you focus on God calling and leading the Israelites into battle. But completely ignore the verse “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

I could do many more examples, but all that would do is get certain people mad at me and have them thinking that because I used it as an example it is the way I believe.

This problem is one of the reasons, I believe, God gave us the church.

If we all went on just how we were to read the Bible, there would be millions of different religions all believing different things.

But if we can come together and openly talk about the ways we interpret the Bible, and listen to the ways others do, then we can find it’s true meaning.