Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Mincing the Word

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}
FOR TODAY'S FULL READING, CLICK THE TITLE LINK ABOVE.
The Word

SCRIPTURE:
One final word of counsel, friends. Keep a sharp eye out for those who take bits and pieces of the teaching that you learned and then use them to make trouble. Give these people a wide berth. They have no intention of living for our Master Christ. They're only in this for what they can get out of it, and aren't above using pious sweet talk to dupe unsuspecting innocents. Romans 16:17-18 [MSG]
OBSERVATION: God has presented us with His inspired Word in sixty-six books.

APPLICATION:
Written by God through those He selected to pen the Word, The Bible is a guide to the life God wants us to live. It is the owner's manual meant to accompany us through this earthly walk we call life. But just as any work can be quoted, paraphrased, snipped, altered, and used in ways that were never intended for purposes that have never been approved, The Bible has been, can be, and will probably always be misused by those who find justification for their selfish pursuits within a verse or two of it's pages.

It's an easy thing to pull out one verse and say that it is permission from God to do something that the full context makes clear was never what God intended. As our world rockets toward increased depravity and immorality, we will surely see the Word of God misused in ways we could never have imagined. Keep a sharp eye out and don't fall victim to those who would fictionalize the Word to meet their needs. They're only in this for what they can get out of it.
PRAYER:
Father, open my eyes to the ways of the world around me. Help me to see through the smoke and mirrors of those who would inappropriately invoke Your Name for their own sinful causes. Use me as a beacon, Lord, to share the Message as You have intended, to dispel the lies and illuminate the Truth. Your Words through me, Lord, not my own.

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