What do you make of the Trump administration? If you listen to our news, President Trump is often portrayed as a narcissistic, domineering, dangerous world power. Yet I heard on the news today that unemployment in the US is now only 4% and the economy is healthy. This was a reminder to me of the importance of not taking what we read and hear literally but doing our own discerning investigation into it.
During the holidays when our own morning TV news wasn’t on I listened a lot to Al Jazeera. This channel offers rich, investigative journalism. The only trouble is that it is definitely slanted with Israel portrayed as the bad guy. When we take this news at face value, it can, over-time, build up a resentment towards this nation.
Whatever we read and hear as Christians must be discerned through the Spirit as to what is truth; what is the correct interpretation of this information? This applies to reading the Bible. Paul gave this advice to Timothy, a young developing preacher and elder in the early church. “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15. To me a deep and researched understanding of Scripture is vital, and it must be interpreted in the light of Christ. All Scripture is contextual. It was written for a particular audience at a particular time. We understand this when we read such texts as “The person to be cleansed must wash their clothes, shave off all their hair and bathe with water; then they will be ceremonially clean,” Deuteronomy 14:8. However, some of the church, for centuries, has misinterpreted some of our New Testament scriptures, reading them literally, taking them out of context, and implementing them as “truth for all time.” Today we will be looking at one such passage.
Going forward I would love each person at Connect to own a study Bible and use it. These are not just for pastors and teachers but for all Christians who wish to discern as best they can what God is really saying through His word. Study Bibles don’t make things more difficult for us but actually, help us to understand more easily.
God bless us as we meditate on God’s Word.
About Pastor Julie
I’m passionate about the church – building believers up in their faith, to be all God intended them to be; and I’m passionate about sharing the love and hope of Jesus with people who don’t know Him yet.