The other day Rhonda wanted me to hang a curtain rod in the kitchen. I got my drill out and the hardware contained in the packaging. I drilled the holes and started to push the plastic screw anchors in the newly drilled holes. One of them was not going in as easy so I began to search for the hammer. I could not find it, but I did find a pipe wrench.
You may be wondering what I needed a pipe wrench for when hanging a curtain rod. Simple, I used the back of it to drive in my screw anchors. Then I used a butter knife to screw in one of the screws until it bent the tip of the butter knife. I finally found a flat head screw driver to finish the job but I never found the hammer.
Life is much easier when we use tools the way they were designed to be used. What about the Bible? How is it supposed to be used? Is it a tool to point out how much better you are than the pagan down the street? Hammering away at their sin quoting Bible verses to show that they are going to burn in hell. No, that's not the purpose. That is like using a pipe wrench for a hammer.
Is it a tool to manipulate someone to do something that you want? Do you twist scripture to fit your own personal desires? No, that's not the purpose either. That is like using a butter knife as a screwdriver.
What then is the purpose of the Bible/scripture? Look at what Jesus said: “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” (John 5:39-40).
He is telling the religious leaders you have it all wrong. You are looking at scripture as a tool for living under the law. You look at it as a bunch of "do's" and "dont's." You think that righteousness is found in how you live by these "do's" and "dont's."
Scripture is not about "law" it is about "grace." They testify concerning Jesus who came so that we could find righteousness through him. He came to testify how we should live in relationship with God the Father so we could experience grace, mercy and love.
Look, your pagan neighbor does not need to hear about how much of a sinner he is. The church has done a good job letting the world know about sin(the law). What the Church has done a poor job of is telling those far from God about grace, mercy and love. We have not used the Bible as a testimony about Jesus. We have used it as a way make ourselves look better than the pagan down the street.
We all need to do a better job of living like Jesus. This will happen more often if we read the Bible the way it was intended to be read. We need to use it as a tool to testify about Jesus not as a tool to point out sin.
By the way, the cutains look great in the kitchen.
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