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Step in to the water

Thursday, March 10, 2005

John 5:39-40
Jesus says,
"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life."



It's not reading the Bible that's the problem, it's reading with a closed mind. Course I usually don't realize I've closed it ... I just think/decide/am certain that I'm right!

In one of his astonishingly modern books (written in the 1940s), Dale Carnegie reminds me that Albert Einstein said his conclusions were wrong 99% of the time. So I could be wrong at least occasionally. You too?

In Isaiah 55 God made it clear: "My thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways are not your ways." I have a love/hate affair with theology; I can't live with it and I can't live without it. I want to know God, I want to know how he thinks, what he does. I read the Bible to find out and am often confused by either contradictions or, worse, God's ungodly behavior.

R.C. Sproul helps me here. If God and I are a world apart, who's right? That's a moral decision point, will it be God or will it be me? If the Bible doesn't agree with me, what will I decide?

That's not easy at all. Unfinished business doesn't sit well with my brain. Unfinished business with God is the toughest of all to live with. I take refuge in his admonitions to wait patiently, to be still, to stop trying so hard. But my inquiring mind still wants to know.

Maybe I should be grateful that I don't know. After all, from the moment he invited Eve and Adam to snack at the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Satan has been known as the evil angel of the intellect. But I must KNOW this about Satan to resist him, don't I?

It's very tempting to stop thinking altogether, though. I do that too often. Just have a "personal relationship" with Jesus, I'm told. This sounds good, but just what does it mean? To relate to his person, I need to know Jesus, don't I? How do I know him?

Of course I must read the Bible, while avoiding the trap Jesus describes in John 5. I want to learn to do this so that I can have a personal relationship with my Savior. Here are some ideas from theologian Ravi Zacharias on asking questions and seeking answers...

There is quite often a telltale difference between the way we think about science and the way we think about God. When we come across something in science that is baffling or troublesome, this is precisely the place where the scientist focuses her time. The unknown or misunderstood cries out for investigation. Within the scientist's commitment to science is an understanding that progress depends on it. Had Alexander Flemming not been thoroughly perplexed by the ring of mold on a plate of bacteria he had been working with, we might not have penicillin today. The scientist is well aware that it is often that troubling concept which unlocks the very truth that is needed most. It is all too often the missing piece that brings the picture into greater focus; to ignore it would be counterproductive.

C.S. Lewis argues that the same is true of theology. The thing we need most is often hidden within a troubling idea, the story we don't like, the words of Christ that we find unnerving. It is these bothersome moments in theology that often mark the reality to which we need to be awakened most seriously. It is here where we should focus our time; to turn away would be unwise.

And yet turning away is often the approach we take, isn't it? The concept that troubles us is the one we are most likely to avoid at all costs, to brush over uncomfortably and excuse as irrelevant. In that sense, we are not only failing to step forward in our knowledge of God, we are stepping backward. It is not only a dishonest pursuit of knowledge, but dangerous theology. We are seeking a God we can shape ourselves, an image of Him molded to our liking.

Failing to seek with all our hearts, we remain on the outside of the door. It is as if we have chosen to avoid persistently knocking for fear that Someone might actually answer. Yet choosing to avoid discomfort we have chosen what we want God to be instead of finding out who He is. Like a scientist shutting down an investigation in fear of the results, we are choosing to believe that our image of God is actually better than the real thing.

I'm not alone here, Lord. You are with me. I can know you better and better as I ask questions and you answer them. Open my mind.



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