Scripture, Your Guide or Your Tool?

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

II Peter 1:20-21

I recently just celebrated my eighteenth wedding anniversary. I'll tell you one thing I don't do and that is try and use the Bible to get my wife to act a certain way. I do try to read the Bible and by faith do what it says, like love my wife. How does Christ love me? That is how I should love my wife. 

The deal is that we seek to find God's will, not something in the Bible that backs up our will. 

A friend of mine once told me that you could make the Bible say anything you wanted. I said, "Really, what about where it says to not commit adultery?" Actually, you can misinterpret the Bible to say whatever you want, but, that is different than reading the Bible and just manipulating parts to say things the Spirit of God never intended to say. 

The key is God's will. Am I trying to find out what God has for me or am trying to figure out a way to get God to do what I want for me? 

To love (agape) others means ____. Fill in the blank on Fill-It-In-Friday!

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.
2 Peter 1:5-7 (NIV)

After mixing together faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, and mutual affection (brotherly love) Peter  says to add love. 

Why do you think Peter saved love, agape in the Greek, for last? What do you think agape love means? 

I am going to try something different today. Let's call this a "Fill-it-in" Friday. I need you to complete the following statement. 

Peter places love last for a reason. To love (agape) others means ___________________________________. Help us out by filling in the blank leaving your thoughts and insights in the comment section. Thanks!

I Almost Waited Long Enough

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 

2 Peter 1:5-7 (NIV)

All I can think of is the story of Saul in I Samuel 13. Saul waited seven days in the face of the enemy and the army of Israel looking to him to lead them. He was waiting for Samuel the priest. He panicked and offered the offerings himself. Just as he got done, Samuel arrives.  Samuel tells him he acted foolishly by not keeping the command God gave him. 

What hits me, is the question of how many times I have been impatient and not persevered and tried to take things into my own hands? 

I don't want to condemn myself or anyone else because I know that God is forgiving, merciful and gracious. He is faithful and just to forgive us from all unrighteousness. I do want to remind us to patiently endure in our present circumstances. Whether that be a situation at work or at home, God, who began a good work in you, is faithful to complete that work. 

Father, help us to remember, even when confronted with unbearable pressure, to wait on you, to persevere. Praise be to you in us today!

Don't Be Crazy

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.

2 Peter 1:5-7 (NIV)

When I was in college I played goalie for the soccer team. It was a small school and we played in a league that had several semi-pro type players. One game against a team that called themselves the Pars got pretty physical and the ref warned everyone (mostly this one guy from the other team) that he would call the game if it got out of hand. 

Shortly into the second half the ref awarded the Pars a free kick. The player from the other team who was player just shy of dirty, thought it should have been a penalty kick. While he was complaining we blocked their attempt and went down and scored. Crazy guy "attempted" to block a pass from our best player and kicked him full force in the shin. The ref blew the whistle and called the game. 

Crazy out of control guy was just getting warmed up. He was yelling at the ref and his entire team was trying to restrain him from attacking the ref. He broke free, ran directly at the ref, jumped in the air and kicked the ref square in the chest. Crazy out of control guy and his team were kicked out of the league. 

Proverbs 25:28 warns, "Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control." If you don't have self-control, you have no defense. While crazy guy was busy complaining about the call, we scored. Sometimes we do that too, don't we. Something happens and we start complaining (maybe just to ourselves) but, we get distracted from the battle at hand, our defenses are down like broken walls, and the enemy can walk right in. 

Self-control is knowing that God is Sovereign and acting like it even when we don't see exactly see or discern what God is doing. 

Father, help us to by faith be self-controlled. Praise be to you in us today!

MORE THAN KNOWING ABOUT

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 

2 Peter 1:5-7 (NIV)

I am a teacher so knowledge is pretty important in my world. Every day I am trying to help students learn a concept or master a skill to increase their knowledge. But knowledge without God is just vanity. 

Proverbs 1:7 says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." Again in Proverbs 9:10 we are told, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Peter isn't talking about general knowledge, he is talking about knowing God. 

Peter was Jewish. The Hebrew concept of knowledge has to do with experiential knowledge. The NIV translates Genesis 4:1 "Adam lay with his wife Eve". The KJV reads "And Adam knew Eve his wife". The word is to know. The point is the Adam knowledge of Eve was not just in thought but in intimate experience.  Our knowledge of God is to be experiential. 

When Peter encourages us to add knowledge to our goodness and faith he's not talking about taking a lot of notes during church and reading books. Peter is talking about knowing God like you know your spouse of best friend. 

Father, help us to know you, to know you experientially. Open our eyes to see you in our lives. Praise be to you in us today!