The other day while I was standing at my pantry door, I happened to catch sight of the sugar canister and noticed that there were two foreign invaders present. My first thought was that someone had gotten crumbs in the sugar, but unfortunately that was not the case. Since the canister is airtight, I can only assume it was open long enough for the nasty little critters to sneak in unnoticed. Yuk! Now, I keep a super clean house, so it disturbs me that this would happen. I realize it's spring time and bugs get in, but how could they have crept in so far without my notice? I am vigilant about bugs and such! Out went the sugar and the canister was scrubbed scrupulously clean. Only good, safe sugar will do!
The whole situation got me thinking about other things that I have become keenly aware of lately. Things that had crept into my mind without detection and needed to be examined, thrown out, and replaced with the good stuff. A few months ago, I heard some teaching that seemed to be off the mark--or to be more explicit--downright bad doctrine. I can't say it isn't stuff I haven't heard before, but for some reason (and I am not willing to conjecture why) I heard it with new ears. So I went to the Bible to research and listened to some very sound Biblical teaching, and now I know what was wrong with that teaching. It really disturbs me that I have heard false teaching before and have not recognized it or questioned it, and have even passed it on. How did I come to accept it as true? How did it sneak in unnoticed?
I think the answer lies in the prevailing popular approach to modern religion-- a post-modern, seeker approach. (Disclaimer: I confess that I am not a Bible scholar, theologian, or schooled in any formal way in the topic of religion, so these are all my own conclusions drawn from some really good commentary from sound theologians and my own observations.) There are a good number of preachers and teachers who tell us what is appealing to us. They package church in a manner that makes it indistinguishable from popular culture, they fail to point out our nature as sinners in need of salvation through the atoning death of Jesus, they feed our compulsion to "do" by giving us three/five/seven ways we can appear to be a good Christian (the sin of pride comes to mind). And what I have observed most is that they make everything about US--how do we interpret the Word, what does the scripture say about or mean to us (without consideration for the context of the text), what we can do, what's our testimony--and they leave out Jesus or stick in one passage of the Bible, taken out of context, to support the point. All these things are like sugar to my complacent, self-centered, sinful nature, but they are full of bugs. What is candy to my ears may bring sickness to my soul. It is vital that we stay alert to what is taught, preached, and proposed. We are compelled to shine the light of Scripture on what we have heard. I am determined now to question, compare and contrast teaching to the Gospel, to challenge, and even to confront. This post may even seem a bit confrontational. It might appear sweet and loving for me to let it go, but we are called to confront that which is false in order to help lead others out of sin. Since I have struggled/struggle with this myself, I care that my brothers and sisters do too. Please question what you hear, go to the Bible, seek good pastoral counsel, and even gently confront. Even if that means me.
"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.
But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens and in
this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is
nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions." -Galatians 6:1-4a
Peace,
Mary
No comments:
Post a Comment