Keys....Steps....And Secrets

Sometimes I think Christianity is its own worse enemy.
Let me rephrase that.

Sometimes I think what passes for Christianity is its own worse enemy.

If you go to any Christian bookstore you'll see rows upon rows of books with titles like "12 keys to unlocking your hidden potential." Or "7 keys to finding your destiny."

The subtle message behind these books and others that carry similar titles is that there is a hidden truth that is hidden from you (average Joe Schmoe Believer)in the Bible. Oh it may be there in Scripture but you are not skilled enough to see it, recognize it, or decipher it.

Since that is the case, you should buy the latest, greatest book because you are in need of a particular book to help you rise above the "common" believers so you can occupy a special place in the kingdom.

To me this kind of thinking flies in the face of the greatest book ever written THE HOLY BIBLE.

John 16:13 reads: However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 

God has given to us the greatest tool ever to transform our earthly minds into understanding the will, mind and plans of God. He has placed within every believer His Holy Spirit to be our compass, our communicator to God, to show us how to live.

The mindset of a believer searching for so called "hidden" things in an effort to better their life or lifestyle is something that is not from God. To me this idea of finding hidden wisdom goes back to the subtle suggestion the devil spoke to the woman in the garden of Eden. "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good an evil."

The inference is that God had with held information from the woman and that by eating the fruit, intellectually they would be on the same level as God. Wow! We can be like God!

"When God comes down here to the garden, as he does each day when temperature goes down in the afternoons, then we can have some real conversation with Him. We wont have to simply listen and ask questions anymore, we can converse with Him as equals."

Very heady thought.

I am not in any way inferring that today we seek to be on equal footing with God by searching out for hidden info. What I am suggesting is that we have bought into the lie that God has kept info from us and that by buying someones book we can gain access to that information. My Bible reads in Psalm 119:130 that "the unfolding of Your word (or the entrance of Your Word into my life) gives light. It gives understanding to the simple."

Here in is the communication we should be desiring from God. That His word, His book, His Bible, be unfolded to us thereby, through the work of the Holy Spirit, bring light to the dark places of my understanding.

I have, in the past, had numerous people come to me desiring that I pray for them that they might understand the deeper things of God. I tell them that I think they will be surprised to find that the deeper things of God aren't really that deep. Because like it says in the Ps. 119 passage, "It (the Bible) gives understanding to the simple."
And just for the record......
I am the chief simpleton of all who are simple.

Seek out the Word of God and become a student, a follower, a disciple of Jesus.
Read His book...
Put it into practice in your life....

You might be surprised.

God on you.........

mb