ALL Scripture IS God-Breathed!

Lest anyone doubt my sanity or faith, I would like to clarify yesterday's post. Yes, I DO believe that ALL Scripture is God-breathed. Yes, I do FIRMLY believe in the spiritual discipline of tithing. And, yes, I do believe that it is a discipline - it takes repetition & committment.



I wanted to open a dialogue, because I saw so much of myself in the man who debated me. It was so easy, at one point, to intellectualize everything. To believe that, if I was smart enough, I didn't need God. To believe that parts of the Bible didn't apply to me.

I was reading in Galatians 5 online today. I specifically asked God to give me something for my heart that I could share. The answer did not actually come from the Scripture itself. It came from the commentary posted online regarding the chapter. To read the entire commentary, go to http://www.biblegateway.com/, look up Galatians 5, then click on "commentary". But, I have included here a specific portion that spoke to me.

"Paul introduces his call for decision with a solemn warning based on an agricultural principle: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows (v. 7). When people think and act as if they will not reap what they have sown, or as if they will reap something different from what they have sown, they are deceiving themselves and mocking God. But since the inexorable law of reaping what is sown has always been proved true, the proverbial statement of warning God cannot be mocked is also true: no one can mock God and get away with it.
Yet there is a common tendency to think that there is one exception to this universal principle: "Though it proves true for everyone else, it is not true for me. I will not have to reap a harvest from the seeds I sow. I can sow whatever seed I want and still expect a good harvest." This common line of thought only proves the words of the prophet Jeremiah, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure" (Jer 17:9). Our capacity for self-deception is frightening. It is amazing how blind otherwise brilliant people can be to their own spiritual direction in life. In fact, the more brilliant people are, the more skilled they are at developing rationalizations to deceive themselves and to hide from God. The story of Adam and Eve's hiding from God behind their skimpy clothes and even skimpier excuses is our common human experience. Paul's warning needs to be heard, and to be heard often, to warn us against our most brilliant self-delusions."

How often do we believe that we are the exception? That we will not have to face the seeds we have sown? Yet, I do believe the Bible. "For ALL(emphasis mine) have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God." I am reminded of a story told to me many years ago about the truth of God. An intellectual/atheist/buddhist/whomever is standing on the railroad tracks, his life. He sees the train of the truth of God approaching. He can believe, in his mind, that the train is made of marshmallows, and will not hurt him. However, the truth of the train is a very different story. If he chooses to acknowledge that it is a train, that there is truth, that it is absolute, he can then operate within that truth and be saved. If he chooses to stay on the tracks, in his self-delusion and "intelligence", he will get hurt. This is not to say that God is in any way mean, vindictive, or hurtful. It is simply to say that there is truth, it is absolute, and evenually, every one of us must face it.

Once you accept truth, it is so much easier to accept God at His word. It is so much easier to, when you read Scripture, to believe that it does apply to your life. That it is true. That it can and will change your life. And that, if you trust God with your finances, He will prove Himself faithful. He has, time and time again, for me. And He will again.