Most weeks I get so enveloped with what I am studying—so excited about what God’s teaching me—that I feel like I barely get warmed up on a Sunday and it’s over. This weekend was all of that on steroids!
There’s such a disconnect today with Christians and the Old Testament. A lot of Christ followers are so intent upon being just that—Christ followers—that they haven’t got time for all that old school stuff. I’ve even heard believers say that the God of the Old Testament seems so angry and vindictive—judgemental and scary, that they prefer Jesus.
“I’m a Jesus Christian,” They say
Hmm.
Actually, it’s the same God. So, saying you’re a New Testament, Jesus only, type Christian is like saying your an ‘ears only’ kinda person—no ‘eyes’ for you.
Why do we so often shun what we simply do not understand? Is it that hard just to admit we’re wrong?
This weekend we learned that some of the meanest things Jesus ever said and some of the wildest things he ever did we’re really the nicest and most civil things imaginable.
Kinda like a parent who yells harshly at their small child as they giggle while running toward a busy street at full speed. If you were a neighbor on the other side of the fence and could not see what was going on, that parent might sound harsh—maybe even borderline abusive.
In reality though, that parent loves their child—passionately, deeply.
God loves us like that. He only has our best in mind.
Time to stop dissecting the Bible. The God of the Old is also the God of the New.
And He’s not tame!
But He is good.