Friday, August 10, 2012

A Handbook for Children

There is so much man-manufactured religious crap out there... and perhaps more than I'd like to admit resides in this blog...

The crap manufacturers mean well (we do!), but maybe it's important to get back to the basics -regularly- and read Matthew 5 thru 7.

These three chapters contain the basic instructions, the primer on living that Jesus spoke to people just like us.  It's full,  and it's concise, and it contains one very scary warning.  It's what our Creator chose to teach in His classroom.

One of my podcast preachers, John McArthur, criticised red-letter edition Bibles for suggesting that the words of Jesus were more important than the rest.  John may be right, but maybe spoiled little worldly rich kids like us should get the basics down before we worry about... the rest.  Sometimes -the rest- can be an exercise in avoiding the basics that are just too hard.

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2 comments:

SkyePuppy said...

I've been reading through the Bible (NLT) about a chapter a night, and I can't tell you how excited I was to FINALLY get to the New Testament.

Last night's reading was Matthew 6, and what jumped out at me was that three times He says, "your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you." (v. 4, 6, 18)

I don't really like that He knows all my secrets, especially the ones I keep from myself. But I'm so thankful for another red-letter passage, where He says that no one (not even me and my secrets) can snatch me from His hand.

Yes, I love the rest, but I need those red-letter basics.

Great post, Chris, and more hugs for you today...

8/11/2012 1:12 PM
Grammy said...

Ive recently been wondering if the modern church doesn't focus too much on the epistles and not enough on the gospels. They are different perspectives. The epistles are absolutely critical, but they all must be interpreted in the light of the gospels. The epistles alone can lead to smug legalism and - I suspect - some false security.

And Skyepuppy - I know what you mean! The Old Testament gives you such a hunger for a new deal. Malachi really leaves you thinking "Well all that didn't work out so well. What else ya got?"

8/12/2012 6:19 AM

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