What You Need To Know About Being Uncomfortable with God’s Absolutes
Most people get uncomfortable with absolutes. Do you?
Proverbs 30 says: 5 Every word of God proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.
Most people get uncomfortable with absolutes. God doesn’t get uncomfortable, so when we see the absolutes in the Bible, why should we?
Every word of God proves true. In the midst of the absolutes that people want to argue and shy away from, this is one absolute we should invite everyone to get on board with.
Why? When the Bible says that every word of God proves true, it’s both an absolute and a challenge.
Here are three takeaways from this passage:
(1) God’s Word has been tested
The writer takes it as a given. People have tried and tried to prove God’s Word false, but it returns true. Science, philosophy, and the heart cannot undo what God has purposed. The only time that God’s Word is false, is when we make it false by corrupting it or misunderstanding it.
In the midst of the time-tested grace of God’s Word, a great number of people will not take God’s Word as an absolute. They will try every which way to get around what God has placed in our hearts to guide us, keep us safe, and point us to an eternity with Him. Yet, countless people still see the everlasting truths stand strong and God’s promises not become void. God continues to champion the validity of His claims for us and He continues to grieve when it falls short because people give up on a God they might misunderstand.
God’s Word has been tested. A lot. It continues to pass the test. Check the research.
(2) God invites you to the challenge as generations past have done
Are you up to the challenge? God invites us to put His promises to the test, and see if the grace and mercy and blessing of obedience don’t pay dividends for us. God invites us to receive what is holy and right and make those words that bring such wisdom and life a part of our everyday process. Then see how God’s promises stack up next to your expectations. You might find the gap is a lot smaller than you originally would have thought.
Here’s an unfortunate reality though: people don’t do their homework before they put God’s Word to the test. We need to make sure we’re framing God’s Word in the proper context to see its promises revealed. Has the Word of God failed you? Has God Himself failed you? No one wants to admit that they have been disenchanted with at least one passage in the Bible that doesn’t ring true for them. No one wants to admit that there was at least one prayer given in faith that did not return the way that it was believed was supposed to happen. Certain Christian movies give a false impression that, if you are a devout Christian, everything will work out for you. It simply doesn’t happen that way. We have to understand the full meaning of what we’re asking of God. But when we get everything lined up, God’s Word is proven true.
Let’s step back and see what God really has to say.
(3) The thought of the absolute makes us uncomfortable
After all of this, I’ll tell you why we still get uncomfortable: because it comes down to how we communicate God’s absolutes. God is God and we are not God. That means we cannot offer the same absolutes as God. We cannot honor all the promises we make. We cannot make the decrees that God makes. We are subject to someone, always. And that means that there will always be a stressor for us, as humans, when it comes to seeing the absolutes in the Bible. The question for Christianity is this: how do we communicate the absolutes of God’s Word?
The world doesn’t need to hear more of what Christians believe about homosexuality, it needs to hear how we as Christians are going to love people in the midst of dealing with God’s absolute statement on the subject.
The world doesn’t need to hear more of what we believe about Jesus being the only way to salvation, it needs to hear how we are going to build bridges so hatred does not triumph over love.
The world doesn’t need to hear more of what we believe about abortion, it needs to hear more of how life and love play into the way in which we live and interact with those who radically disapprove of the Bible’s stance on life.
The world doesn’t need to hear more of how it’s going to Hell, it needs to hear why it’s so heartbreaking to us to think of even the vilest person here on earth not having the opportunity, through the grace of Jesus, to be received into our Savior’s Heavenly Kingdom.
These things should make us uncomfortable, because the way we handle the Word of God shows how it is working in our lives. Does mercy triumph over judgment? Does grace triumph over law? What boundaries do we set for acceptability in our own practices?
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Might I suggest that it’s a good thing to be uncomfortable with the absolutes of God, not from a perspective of will God’s promises be available for me, but as we think about the gravity of what those absolutes look like in the real world, lived out under real world circumstances. The more we are uncomfortable with them, the more meaning they will bring to us. Those ready to bring down the hammer on people who think differently than they do, haven’t felt the true power of redemption being granted them, or at least, it’s been a long time. Let us meditate on how freeing Jesus is not only for us, but for everyone. That is an absolute truth worth embracing. Amen.
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