“But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love Me or each other as your did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to Me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.” (Revelation 2:4-5 NLT)
These stern words spoken by the Lord Jesus to the church in Ephesus could be written to many churches in the USA and across our world today. The old adage “familiarity breeds contempt” could, unfortunately, be used in reference to those of us in the Christian family.
We’re so prone to view others through the lens of our own understanding, seeming never to consider that maybe our own “lens” is smudged by misunderstanding. Have you considered that the authors of the absolute best interpretation of Scripture that any of us can read are the words of fallible human beings with feet of clay?
Scholars with years of experience in interpreting and understanding the contexts of Biblical writings, while immensely helpful, are always dependent on the frailties of their own understanding. Does that mean they haven’t or don’t make accurate interpretations? I’m quite confident in the vast majority of cases they have.
But here’s the truth as I understand it. The Lord has given us some invaluable resources with which to do Biblical research and study, but to the extent it only leads to further division in the Body we have to calculate the risk of using it. And even as I type these words the Lord is prompting me to remember that TRUTH itself is divisive. So, what are we to do?
If you view the people across the centuries whom the Lord has used most mightily, with rare exception, they have been men and women of God who put a high value on personal piety. What does that mean? It means their walk with the Lord was preeminent in their thinking and living. It means their lifestyle of closeness with the Lord was evidenced in not only how they spoke, but the fruit of their lives.
George Mueller was a leader among the Plymouth Brethren whose day-to-day existence was completely dependent on the presence and power of the Lord. He began a ministry to orphans without the resources to care for them, believing the Lord would provide, and He always did. Brother Mueller wrote: “In July 1829 it pleased God to reveal to my heart the truth regarding the return of the Lord Jesus and to show me that I had made a great mistake by sitting back and watching for the complete conversion of the world. It produced the following effect on me: Deep within my soul, I was moved to feel compassion for perishing sinners and for a world lulled to sleep by the wicked Enemy. And I began to think, ‘Should I not do whatever I can for the Lord Jesus and try to awake His slumbering church before He returns?’”
In our efforts to combat the “heresy” that our fellow believers are following, we miss the point of why we’re believers in the first place – not so we can all believe exactly alike, but to use the knowledge, gifts, and abilities the Lord has given us to reach those who don’t believe.
Whether someone’s view of end times is exactly like ours shouldn’t prevent us from joining forces to reach our fellow “slumbering” believers, as well as our loved ones, neighbors, co-workers, friends, and anyone else to whom the Lord gives us access, with the Good News. How we do that can be tricky, so let’s take a closer look at this in tomorrow’s post.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 