What God Wants

Isn't it funny how two different people can read a book or article and come away with totally different meanings or ideas from it? Each person comes with their own preconceived ideas and thoughts that are based on their own personalities, their upbringings and their experiences. Each of those things colors their perception and allows for many different ideas that make the world a very interesting place in which to live.

One such Book is the Bible. It was finished several centuries ago and yet, even today, people still get it wrong. Some people see it as a book of stories or myths. Some people take certain portions of it as the truth and other parts they discard. Others see it as God's inspired Word.

Over the centuries, different groups of men have used the Bible to justify their actions. Europeans used it to justify the Crusades. Southerns used it to justify slavery. Northerners used it to justify abolition. Some anti-abortionists use it to justify killing doctors. Still others today use it to justify their worldly lifestyle while the people down the street seclude themselves from the rest of the world. These examples are among many such ideas that people have used God's Word to justify their actions that are very contradicting.

How can one group use the Bible to support an idea while another group uses the same Bible to support the total opposite idea?

The answer is very simple. Sinful Man with his own preconceived notions takes portions of Scripture that seem to support his idea out of context and uses it as a weapon, wielding it about to crush anyone that doesn't agree with his own personal ideas.

But is that what God wants?

NO!

God wants His children to use the Bible first and foremost as a personal letter of love from Him to His children. Secondly, He wants us to use it to learn more about Him and His nature. Thirdly, He wants us to grow in Him by reading His Word and learning from it. And fourthly, He wants us to use it as a weapon to defeat the forces of Satan and bring many lost souls to a true knowledge of Him.

How do we do that? By reading the Bible with open eyes, hearts, and minds and let God tell us what He means by each passage of Scripture. We need to throw away what we think we know and let God use His Words to mold us into being like His Son.

Yes, different people will always do God's will differently. He didn't make robots that have no control over their own thoughts and actions. But when we let God show us the true meaning of His Word, we will all start to become more and more like Christ and less and less like ourselves.