Rightly Divided.

How do we rightly divide the Scriptures? With other Scriptures.

As I was meditating on that thought this morning, I was reminded of IPeter 5:6, "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty Hand of God that He may exalt you at the proper time." I do not think we fully understand what that means. While it is our responsibility to humble ourselves in the Presence of God, we have not been doing it properly up to this point. Declaring our faultiness before God is not humility. In fact, it is forbidden in the Bible. Colossians 2:18 says "Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility..." Paul goes on to list a few other deceptions that will rob us of God's moving in our lives, but the first one he lists is false humility. Other translations label it as "self-absement." Beating yourself up is not what God had in mind when He had Peter wrote "humble yourselves." If that were the case, then the Bible would be contradicting Itself on this issue; and we know that is never the case.

Earthly parents do not enjoy listening to their children talk bad about themselves all day. They do not like listening to kids talk about what they cannot do, or that they are not worthy of something, or that they are no good/worthless/etc. Why do we think God would be any different? It's worse in God's Eyes, because He has given us the tools not to be this way! I could picture God "pulling His Hair out" at the sound of church people declaring their sinfulness in His Face. "God, we are so unworthy to be in Your Presence. We know we are sinful, and nothing we can ever do will be worthy of Your goodness. We do not know why You chose us. You should have done away with us..." God hates when you say that! We are His children, and any parent will tell you that they do not like hearing their kids talk that way about themselves, and God is no different. He created each of us intentionally with a purpose, in love, to live a righteous, full life in Him. For us to devalue ourselves in any way is to slap Him in the Face. Do you want to slap God? I don't.

What does the Bible say about us (not religion, catechisms, or dead theologians)? It says that we are the righteousness of God in Jesus (IICorinthians 5:17-21). He has given us His Spirit to grow in power and might, and that through Him we know all things (IJohn 2:20). It says we have been given every tool for life and godliness, found in a full knowledge of Him (IIPeter 1:3). And He gave us His Word so that we can grow in that knowledge of Him (IITimothy 3:16-17)! Hello?? Yet, to walk in self-abasement is to cripple yourself. Proverbs 23:7 says that we are what we think. If we declare ourselves as incapable, sinful, weak and confused, then that is what we will walk in. That is what many Christians do. No wonder so many people are getting ripped up by the devil! Jesus said that what we say and believe will happen will happen to us (Matthew 8:13; Mark 11:23). If you believe the pathetic description religion says of you over what God says about you, you will live in defeat from now until Jesus comes.

I once heard Kenneth Copeland challenge listeners to do an exercise in this area. He said take ICorinthians 13, the "Love chapter," and replace your name for the word "love." You are a child of God; you have the Spirit of God residing in you; God is Love (IJohn 4:8). Therefore, you are born of the incorruptible seed of Love, and that Love resides in you now. These verses reflect both God and us as His children. One other Christian author said he was challenged to do this same exercise (though I am sure it was not from Copeland). He later wrote about this challenge, and he said "by the end, don't you feel like a liar?" I wrote an emphatic "NO!" in the margin. If the Bible says I am the seed of God, and that His Love is shed abroad in my heart by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5), then I am all of these things listed in ICorinthians 13, regardless of how I feel. That would be calling God a liar. That is not how to rightly divide the Scriptures. We do not base anything the Bible says about us on how we feel. We tell our feelings to line-up with what the Bible says about us, not the other way around.

This area of humility is just one example of how to rightly read the Scriptures. We have to know more than one Scripture. The Bible says that everything needs to be established by two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6; IICorinthians 13:1; ITimothy 5:19). To base an idea off of one Scripture is very dangerous. The devil will use Scripture to twist your ideas about anything. Find more than one place in Scripture regarding any issue. What it says, goes. It you find something that goes contrary to what you learned in church, change what you talk about in church. If it makes you feel like a liar, say it anyway. The devil is the liar, not the Word. Faith is believing without seeing or feeling. You got to believe it before you can see it. You cannot believe it unless you know it exists. So find it.