He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck,
shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. Proverbs 29:1
We do not think like God
God’s thoughts are higher than ours
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways,
and My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9
It’s pretty simple to understand what God means
but maybe not so easy to accept when our minds are not yet renewed,
and we’re used to figuring things out ourselves, our own way
We must submit our oppositional thoughts to His word
in order to be humble before the Lord
I once had a lady upset with something I said
She was enraged
It was actually what Jesus said that angered her
It upset her that I spoke it and believed it
She called me a derogatory name and did not like at all what I said
God’s thoughts and His word may upset people
Jesus warned us of that
For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words,
of him shall the Son of man be ashamed,
when He shall come in His own glory, and in his Father’s,
and of the holy angels. Luke 9:26
We cannot change God’s Word
For God’s word is God
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God
and the Word was God. John 1:1
It is His word, not ours
People try to soften the blow sometimes,
to spare themselves the anguish
their fellow humans might cause them if they think this way
That lady who was so angry, I tried to soften the blow to myself from her
I told her that God thinks that but I don’t care
That wasn’t entirely true
The sin we were speaking of did bother me and I denied that it did
I’d like to think now I would answer differently, that I’d be stronger
We might not have humbled ourselves before His word yet
in some of the difficult areas, those areas that go against the world,
that if you preach them, speak them, talk about them,
you will be an outcast from whomever finds out what you said,
that is, and outcast because you stand by Christ’s words
It is not easy to be an outcast
Your choice: be an outcast of mortals or an outcast of God
Some people have excused Jesus’ words so that
they fit in more with society today
Some have even changed or lessened the impact of The Bible
“You shall not go to Hell for that”
When the scripture explicitly says those who do such things will go to Hell
Who does that remind you of?
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof,
then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods,
knowing good and evil. Genesis 3:4-5
We need to be very careful when we dismiss God’s words
Or when we place our own meaning on them
because they sound softer, more loving, more reasonable
If we lie to ourselves or lead others astray, we will stand before God
on Judgment Day to answer for those decisions
What can we do?
Humble ourselves before His word and love the truth:
Ask for understanding, wisdom and strength to stand up for His words
Peter denied Christ when he walked with Him as His disciple
We can only have truth, wisdom and strength by His Holy Spirit,
not of ourselves, but the humbling before Him part, that is up to us
Additional Scriptures:
If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
John 15:18
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;
because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion,
that they should believe a lie:
2 Thessalonians 2:10-11
Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come,
He will guide you into all truth:
for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear,
that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come.
John 16:13
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
1 Corinthians 6:9
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
James 4:10