It is what it is

The Bible Is God’s Word To Us

Over the course of hundreds of years, the Bible was put together by God — so that we could come to believe that Jesus is God Himself come down to earth to redeem a people to Himself, the Messiah, Son of God.  God put the Bible together by inspiring writers with His message.  Have you read it for what it is – God’s word to mankind?

³⁰ Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed
in the presence of the disciples,
which are not written in this book;
³¹ but these have been written
so that you may believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God;
and that believing you may have life in His name.
– John 20:30-31

The first account I composed, Theophilus,
about all that Jesus began to do and teach,
² until the day when He was taken up to heaven,
after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.
³ To these He also presented Himself alive
after His suffering,
by many convincing proofs,
appearing to them over a period of forty days
and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. 
– Acts 1:verses 1-3

All Scripture is inspired by God …2 Timothy 3:16  (“God-breathed”; Greek: Theopneustos).  For more detail, use Bible study guides like these here: http://www.biblestudytools.com/concordances/naves-topical-bible/word-of-god.html

The Bible shares God’s plan of salvation, that salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ, and it instructs followers of Christ on how to live faithfully to the teachings of Jesus.

¹⁶ All Scripture
is ^{[a Lit God-breathed]}inspired by God
and profitable
for teaching,
for reproof,
for correction,
for training in righteousness; 
– 2 Timothy 3:16 (NASB)

We know what is right and what is wrong, in God’s eyes, because God laid it all out for us to plainly understand.  He wants to show us what life is all about, from His perspective.  It is important to not read-into-it, not remove what makes us uncomfortable, not reject portions of the Bible where it says what we do not want to hear!  It is what it is.  It’s God’s word to us, not our made-up doctrines and teachings.  Either accept what God is saying, or walk away.  Don’t make it say what it does not say.  How stupididiotic is that!? – to try to change God’s words!  Just walk away.  Or, yield.  Ask God to help you.

“God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
⁷ Submit therefore to God.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  – James 4:6b-8a

Do we come to God to hear Him, or do we create a “faith” of our own making – that is comfortable for us?  A reader deceives himself or herself when words and passages are purposely not accepted as-is.  It is so easy to “reinterpret” it, and “analyze it critically”, and see it in the light of “political correctness”, or just plain not believe what God has told us so plainly right there.

If we truly want to follow Jesus, then we must not maintain beliefs and practices that God rejects.  He knows the heart that is proud of its own way and rejecting His truth.  How can anyone say “I am a Christian” — and yet not follow in practice what Christ taught?  Christ said it is impossible to serve two masters.  You either follow Him — or not. [Matthew 6:24 ; Luke 16:13]  There is no middle ground: You are either following what God Himself teaches, or you are rejecting Him in practice and thus not a genuine believer. 

The truth is – you can say anything, but your actions indicate your true heart.  God knows your true intentions and inner heart. So if your confession is not a true yielding to God, He knows that.

Scripture uses farmers terms to illustrate this.  It calls true believers “wheat”, and fake believers “tares”.  A tare is a plant that grows up with wheat, but is not true wheat.  Tares are like the piglet that suckles with the kitten’s mother cat.  The piglet thinks he’s a kitten because he likes the milk.  But he’s only a pig, not a cat.  [See: Matthew 13: verses 18-30; Matthew 13:36-53]

The same is true of folk who like the idea of being blessed by Christ, but never yield to Him.  Hebrews 3 & 4 explains it quite clearly.

Hebrews 3: verse 12, warns people in the church that one can have “an evil, unbelieving heart”.   They are fake “believers”.  They might be in the church building, and they really like what’s going on there, but they are in reality “falling away from the living God”.  Living a lie.  They are the type that is slowly putting God away from themselves – not actually yielding to Him.

Hebrews 3: verse 19, says of this type of church goer that their shortcoming is their lack of belief. 

“…they were not able to enter because of unbelief.”  – Hebrews 3: verse 19

Hebrews 4: verses 1-2, says some fake believers love to hear the preaching… but never actually put their faith in the Gospel being preached!

Therefore, let us fear
if, while a promise remains of entering His rest,
any one of you may seem to have come short of it.
² For indeed we have had good news preached to us,
just as they also;
but the word they heard did not profit them,
because it was not united by faith in those who heard.
³ For we who have believed enter that rest…
–  Hebrews 4: verses 1-2

God is patient towards us, and is working in your life to draw you to Himself.  At least for today!