I just read an article in which the author suggested that it
is right and proper to be worried sometimes.
Even though he began by quoting Philippians 4:7, “Be anxious for nothing…”
he still concluded that worry is a good thing because when we worry we look to
God. This willingness to set aside the
scripture is disturbing. I was even more
concerned with the response left by one reader.
“I am grateful to finally be at a place of freedom as it pertains to
many things. Worry being one of the primary areas that I always had felt was
sinful.” What concerns me is that the
freedom mentioned is not found in the power of the Holy Spirit but in changing
the teaching of Scripture. By changing
the standard, the individual feels less sinful.
Bonhoeffer wrote about this. “Cheap
grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner.”
Recently a young man in a Bible study asked, “Whose
interpretation of Scripture should I believe?”
He has heard so many people saying such divergent things and all
claiming to speak the word of God that he is genuinely confused. I watched a video series in which the speaker
used many different translations and paraphrases of Scripture to support his
points. The end result for the listeners
was that they felt they could pick whatever version supported their
position. Rather than a disciplined
approach to understand what the Bible says, and then a sincere effort to
believe it “no matter what”, we can easily just find a “Bible teacher” who says
what we want to hear.
How irresponsible is it for a teacher to proclaim, “I know
the Bible says, ‘do not be anxious’ but it really means ‘it is okay to be anxious
if you believe in Jesus?’” This promotes
the teacher’s ideas as usurpers of the Word of God. Oh, that the teachers of the Word would
return to 2 Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a
workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” May we again pray the famous prayer of Billy
Graham, “Lord, help me to believe Your Word, even if I don’t understand it.”
