Chuck McCament When you have a meltdown in a relationship and it appears the other party is at fault, just remember: you’re not so hot either! We’re all “huggable and buggable.” That’s why Jesus gave us what we call the Golden Rule in Matthew 7:12: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
If you were an enemy of Christ, if you hated His people, what would you do to hinder the cause of Christ and discourage His people? The most effective way to do it would be to attack and destroy the source from which Christians get their instructions, guidance and encouragement: God’s Word, the Bible.
I think people sometimes find the Bible boring and uninteresting because they don’t know the Author — or if they do, they don’t know His heart! But when the Holy Spirit reveals the heart of God, the pages of Scripture become irresistible. They reveal a fatherly love, a kind-hearted Creator who delights in His children. The Bible is a Father’s letter to His loved children!
The Holy Spirit illuminates, shines His light on our darkened, dull minds so we can “see”, so we can understand what the Bible is saying — and how God intends to use it in our life-journey. Paul says spiritual truths are understood (and appreciated!) only by the Spirit’s illumination (I Corinthians 2:14). Jesus said the Spirit would lead us into the truth (John 16:13).
Solomon wrote, “As a man thinks in his heart so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). In other words, we are, and we become, what we think! Since we’re transformed by God’s Word, the more time we spend in it, the more of it we get into us via memorization, the sooner and more profoundly we will be changed.
If given the choice, most of us would rather go to a birthday party than to a funeral! But Solomon advises against it. Notice what he writes in Ecclesiastes 7:1-4: “A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth. It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart. Frustration is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.”