Wrestle & Reconcile

Don't Agree So Fast

“Life Anew” in acrylic by Myra Alibrando

Loyal or True?

Would you say pursuing truth and being loyal to a church denomination could sometimes conflict? It doesn't have to be a church denomination, it could be trying to be loyal to a philosophy, or a family tradition. Assumptions vs Learning is a very old conflict.

I once said to an auditorium of one denomination “If you are more loyal to the Word than your denomination, you will be a wonderful asset to your denomination.” I got a mixed response on that one.

Skip That Verse

What do we do with those contradictory scriptures?

Some embrace the verses they like and kind of ignore the opposing scriptures. “Opposing” meaning it doesn’t match their doctrine. We can also provide some lame explanation of why certain scriptures don't mean what they say while others mean exactly what they say. I call that "Teaching the Bible". 

Wrestle & Reconcile

I love that Jacob wrestled with God. Job argued with God. Peter argued with Christ. Moses talked God out of destroying the Israelites.

I would strongly encourage you to wrestle and reconcile. Don't ignore that difficult verse and don't accept that any verse is unimportant. 

Aren't you glad that God is not only merciful but also just? We don’t pick only one.

I'm thankful our perfect God doesn't require perfection from us. Our perfect God doesn't throw away everything imperfect or broken. We work to be pure in heart, motive, and repentance. God fixes. He heals. He forgives. But this also does not mean we can expect mercy on everyone all the time. Definitely not.

Read Jeremiah and Isaiah again. God is a fierce punisher but this is after being rejected time and again, and typically just before God lets the judgment fall, He often asks, almost begs, repentance, so they can escape justice. Once God is determined to punish, He often makes promises of blessing to a future generation. That is always His desire. This is complicated and seems imperfect, but God constantly shows us He is a Person more than some predictable static equation. 

Why Do You Believe What You Do?

It is better that you know why you believe what you believe rather than stating "this is what my church believes".

Does your group want your loyalty to them more than your loyalty to the truth? Do they basically tell you, you don't have to figure it out because wiser people already figured it out. All you have to do is believe, but trust them, not the scripture. No one hears it like that. In my life, it was protective talk to keep me on track.

I have been beneficiary and victim to a variety of church situations. What I can say about all of them is they all had some wonderful people, they all had some dishonorable people, and none of them were perfect churches. The old joke is if there was ever a perfect church, it wouldn't be if they let me in.

I can say this also: I would rather stay in a doctrinally wrong church with lots of love, than a doctrinally right church who tried to be right without love. 

If You Don’t Love, Your Doctrine is Absolutely Wrong

According to the Bible, you can't be doctrinally right if you don't love. In fact, if you don't love, you have missed everything about God. For thousands of years and everything in the both testaments declare the priority of love. If you don't love, you are not missing a detail, you missed the whole Christian thing entirely. 

I'll put some scriptures but first, if we simply walk this out philosophically: love wouldn't fight love. God is love. This next sentence is not a typo: Love loves love.

Real Love Leads Us to Good Places

Maybe an ignorant loving person might sin, but the sincerity of their love would eventually lead to discovering their sin, because they are motivated by love. Being motivated by love would pursue wisdom to love better. Being motivated by love would humbly admit error and get on track as fast as possible. This is the character of love. It is courageous for truth and defending loved ones. Love doesn't want an excuse to hate, it wants an excuse to love. Read 1 Corinthians 13 (the love chapter) again.

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Romans 13:10

Love wants everyone happy but will eventually learn bad choices always lead to unhappiness. I have found every choice contrary to God’s commands brought regret. Therefore, love would seek to correct others on wrong paths, lovingly. Do I sound like a 1960’s hippie?

Models of Hypocrisy

If we believe all this but don't walk in love, we model hypocrisy and something other than true Christ-likeness. And, by the way, God knows it. True Christianity is not about church attendence, mission work, or how much we give to the church, even all of these can also align with love. 

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:20

We just cannot fake this. We also cannot fake the fruit of the Spirit. 

God is Powerful but All About Love

Real joy is better than faking joy. Real love is better than pretending. Walking with God is better than claiming your right doctrine is best. 

Jesus declared, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

Be the Detective, Then Be Blessed

Everything is about love in both the old and new testament. Don't believe me, be a scientist and experiment with the Bible by getting evidence for yourself. But be a good detective gathering facts and patterns rather than collecting only what supports what you think you want the Bible to say. Be that student of truth, not the teacher. It is so much easier and rewarding to be curious about the truth than a defending a position. 

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

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