He Promised ALL Things

In 2 Pet 1:3, the apostle Peter spoke of the divine power of God having given us ALL things that pertain to life and godliness. The apostle Paul echoed a similar message in his writing to the Romans in chapter 8 verse 32. He said that if God did not spare his own Son but gave him up to die for us, that he will also through his son give us ALL things. Little wonder Paul himself proclaimed that he could do ALL things through Christ who strengthens him when he wrote to the Philippians.

The keyword throughout these statements is ALL. Not some, not many, not few but ALL things are promised. That is a precious promise of a never-failing God. One who would rather see the earth come to an end to avoid the unfulfillment of his word; and yes, he is that serious. He is the one that is reliable, capable and specialises in the impossible.

Despite ALL these promises, it can sometimes become difficult to appropriate the blessings to ourselves.  And that happens mostly because we do not possess the prerequisite for receiving the promise – faith.

One element within these promises that is important to note is that all these promises are to be experienced through the knowledge of the word of God. Because faith comes through the knowledge of God. When we build our faith to the point of taking God by his words even when our present physical experiences or circumstances do not align with the word of God, then we start our journey towards receiving the blessings that come with the promises.

The fact that God makes his promises with a very strong and certain language without mincing words or trying to give caveats is really interesting. When he says he has given us everything we need for life and godliness, do we believe it when our situations are not aligning or when we are not seeing physical evidence to support that assertion? What about when he talks about giving us everything? Does he really mean it? What does everything or ALL things really mean? What does it include? Is it just eternal life? What about material things?

You see, we can discuss all the what abouts or what-ifs. It won’t change the fact that those certain statements of promises were made. To experience them, we need to reflect on our lives and our ways to make sure that we are in tune with God, to ensure that we are obedient to his words and that we are seeking him with all our hearts. Because whoever seeks God with all their hearts will find him. Instead of asking the what abouts or what-ifs, we should be looking inward and surrendering ourselves to him, to allow him to use us, to allow him to direct and guide us through his words. When we do this, we will be well on our way to enjoying the blessings of the promises.

As Ointment Poured Forth

Is this that Name as ointment poured forth
For which the virgins love Thee;
King of kings And Lord of lords? All seraphs clad in wings;
All Cherubs and all Wheels which south and north,
Which east and west turn not in going forth;
All many-semblanced ordered spirits, as rings
Of rainbow in unwonted fashionings,
Might answer, Yes. But we from south and north,
From east and west, a feeble folk who came
By desert ways in guest of land unseen,
A promised land of pasture ever green
And ever springing ever singing wave,
Know best Thy Name of Jesus: Blessed Name,
Man’s life and resurrection from the grave.

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI, 1830-1894

Should the Bible be Amended?

“But you and I know the Bible is, in many places, a flawed document. My point to you about gay rights for example – it’s time for an amendment to the Bible. You should compile a new Bible.”

– Piers Morgan.

A few months ago, someone re-echoed this sentiment by Mr Morgan and I remembered the above statement that was made a few years ago. In fact, for Christians in the 21^st century, such statements have become common place. Non-Christians often wonder why most Christians are not so amenable to change in consonance with changing societal norms. The reason for that is not far-fetched as Mr Morgan identified – the bible. The bible is not a dynamic document that changes in accordance with changing society, otherwise it would have been revised far too many times by now. It is not flawed as Mr Morgan said; one’s ignorance or the biblical principles does not tantamount to flaws. The bible is never like any other human written book but is an inspiration from an all-knowing God (2 Pet 1:21). Never in the history of humanity have people openly and so blatantly called for the amendment of the bible. Perhaps people in the past have not called for such changes because they understood the content of the bible more so than a lot of non-Christians and some Christians do today.

You see, the bible is like a constitution but more than that even; because it is sacrosanct, self-interpreting, self-regulatory and self-explanatory and divine. The bible does not mince words or sit on the fence when it comes to issues. For example, consider the words in the bible in the concluding remarks in Revelations 22:18-19, it says:

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.

Revelations 22:18-19

You cannot add to it; it’s that simple. So, the simple answer to the question of updating the bible is that you can’t update it because (1) there are negative consequences, (2) another important reason is because it is complete, correct and more than capable of making the truth seeker wise (2 Tim 3:16-17) and (3) God’s foolishness is wiser than any man’s ideas or updates (1 Cor 1:25). No man is clever enough to write a document that will remain true for all ages and most importantly capable of saving eternally.

So that leaves us with two choices – either we adhere to what the bible teaches or we don’t. We cannot alter what has been written and has been helpful and has made the wretched person wise for up to two millennia. Simply put, we are incapable of producing a better document than what we have which is able to make men wise and able to offer salvation.

If it was up to people today to add to the bible, many concepts will have no right or wrong answer. It will be open to a personal interpretation. It would be something like, let each person do as they please as long as they don’t hurt other people. You see, the world has become very subjective, even simple biological facts have become subjective in the eyes of many. People now want to bend the rules of nature to suit every whim and caprice of their choice. Even biological science of which was for centuries objective and determinant is becoming more ‘tolerant’ or ‘inclusive’ of people’s choices. Words and principles that governed human society for ages have assumed new meaning.

That is what an updated bible or a bible written by today’s moral standards and judgements will be like. It will have nothing to do with the kind of statements that people today will call inflammatory. For example Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, NO ONE comes to the father except through me. Now, that statement leaves no room to any other interpretation, you either believe it or you don’t. You cannot really say that other ways to God are also legitimate because when you believe that statement it invalidates other claims of access to God.

Another point to be made is that there isn’t any book that has influenced society positively as much as the bible has. And it is imperative to leave you with this statement from the bible – do unto others what you want them to do to you. This is a sacred message, the bible contains sacred wisdom inspired by God to make people wise, if you accept it as it is – the word of God that is no flawed and needs no human update or interpretation, you will be better for it.