Two days ago I noticed that our bathroom scale was wrong. The good news is it is wrong in the right direction, telling me that I am 10 pounds lighter than reality. Now, if it had pointed me the other direction I probably would have taken steps to fix it by now, installing some new batteries and coming back to reality!
Does it ever feel nice to be told something that just isn’t the case? Is it more desirable to believe a lie and allow yourself to bask in the glory of falsehood or to take steps to improve things so that your joy is based on reality? I am going to put new batteries in that scale but only after I stand on it one more time! Kidding!
Church can work like that…like a broken bathroom scale we can be told things that just aren’t the case. We can be lulled into a sense that everything is alright even when it isn’t. There comes a point in time when you have to get “old reliable” back out…that old seemingly antiquated contraption that doesn’t need batteries and always gets it right. That thing will never tell a lie…it will tell you straight to your face that you have a problem. It will also give you lots of reasons to have hope for a better tomorrow.
A fundamentally important part of opening the Bible is being ready to do something with what you find in those pages, especially when you see you have been believing a lie…lining your life up with dishonest or inaccurate scales.
One Response
I wonder if the Jews in the time of Jeremiah felt like this? Everything is fine and dandy…even though that old Jeremiah is telling us how out of shape we are! Then when the “Nebuchadnezzar Incident of 586” happened, did they regret their broken scale? Good thoughts!