I got to work early today and I’m sitting here looking out the window at the gently falling snow. The parking lot and roadways are covered. I didn’t have any trouble getting in. For the most part, I don’t have a problem with snow. I’m from “up north” and saw plenty of the white stuff growing up. When I was a child I played in it and when I was older I learned to drive in it (and this was before anti-lock brakes, front wheel drive cars, and radial tires). So for me, driving in the snow has never been much different from driving in the rain; one inconvenience is like another.
But in North Carolina where snow is an “event” people either love the snow or they hate it. And it usually depends on what they have to do in it. If they have to take that “white knuckle” drive to work, snow is something to be despised. But if there’s enough snow that they can justify staying home, people love the break from the daily routine. So, depending on the situation, snow can be either positive or negative.
There are many things in life like that. Jobs, for example. If you have a great job, you probably love it. If you have a bad job, you may hate it. Money is another example. Money can be good or evil. It depends on what you do with it. (Remember, it’s the “love of money” that’s wrong. – 1 Timothy 6:10) If money is used to do good things, we think of it as good. If it’s used for bad, . . . Well, you get the picture.
What we think of scripture can be like that, too. Let me show you.
If you’re like me and you’re fortunate enough to have a Pastor who preaches the hard lessons, not just the easy ones, you’ve probably been made to feel uncomfortable more than once in your life sitting in the sanctuary. I remember during one of my Pastor’s hard lessons, he said that we could let the message either convict us or condemn us. In other words, we could either love the message or hate the message. Since all of the Bible is good for teaching (2 Timothy 3:16), when the Pastor said we could let the message convict us, he was saying we could let it change us.
On the other hand, if we let the message condemn us, he meant we could get angry and refuse to believe we need to change. I’ve done that. We all probably have. Sometimes we listen to the message thinking of all the “other” people who need to be hearing it, not believing that it was written for “me.”
You see, it’s not good when we think we’re exempt from the teaching of any part of scripture. I think in 2011, when it comes to God’s Word, we all need to “take it personally.” I think God wrote the whole thing for each one of us individually and He’s waiting for us to “just do it.” Maybe if we do take it personally, then when someone asks why God doesn’t speak to us anymore, we can say, “I don’t know about you, but He speaks to me.” And with this, my final column of 2010, I wish you a blessed new year.
Thom Fishow
December 26, 2010