3- Biblical Complacency
The Bible's history.
It's really remarkable.
A book so powerful as the Bible is massed produced and mass neglected.
Have you ever had a craving for something, food perhaps? A nice chocolate sundae? Or maybe a thick, juicy steak? Satisfying those cravings by having a sundae or steak is a wonderful thing, that first bite melting on the tongue it's so sweet, so succulent, you might even moan in pure pleasure from the sensation, perhaps even close your eyes? We've all done it, haven't we? Worked ourselves into such a state that the satiation of that craving is something remarkable.
Now lets suppose for a moment that *one* wasn't enough, you want more, so you're given more, and more until suddenly the very thing you were craving, the very thing that gave you such immense pleasure, is now making you feel slightly ill.
Who hasn't eaten something to that point at one time or another in their lives?
Why am I going on about such a thing? Well it will help us relate to the Word of God a little perhaps.
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The Bible was a prized desire, a thirst, a need, for so many.
People lay down their lives for the the Bible, many people, millions. You might scoff but it's history, it's proven fact.
People died for trying to satisfy that craving of theirs- being able to read or hear the Word of God.
While many today have the delicacy before them and turn their nose up at such a sweet, savory treat, a life saving treat.
We hold up a common Bible found in many hotel rooms, found in waiting rooms at doctor offices, found in any bookstore, found in supercenter shopping chains, found all over the place. This book, this common book was held so sacred men and woman, children too, gave their lives for it, for possessing even a scrap of this Bible, for listening to others reading it to them.
Doesn't it seem inconceiveable that it ever occured?
Why did they do that? What makes the Bible so special?
Today people have Bibles in abundance, they have their fill of it and it's not craved, not desired. They are filled by its mere existence all around them, and yes, sickened by it's presence. Best to regulate it to the closet, or why not donate it to a charity. They're everywhere and they're not being read. They're everywhere here in the United States and the majority of the people have lost their taste for it altogether.
It's a want fulfilled, it's lost its appeal through mass production. How we crave that which is forbidden, how we seek that which is special to possess and yet the treasure in almost every home, this easily obtainable treasure is neglected and no longer important to the masses.
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The word of God hasn't changed through time.
The very words men craved to hear a few hundred years ago and were punished for listening to, punished unto death in a lot of cases, are the same words in the Bible you can find in abundance around you.
What made it so special to those people? Did they know something we don't know? That people today can't understand? It's easy to say that people weren't enlightened back then, and our sheer genius today gives us a special ability to discern how unnecessary it is to read the Word of God. But we'd be very wrong.
People then like people now need the Word of God. It's in that Bible that Salvation through Christ Jesus is made known. It's in the Word of God that man can find his true purpose in a world that only offers confusion.
There is power in the Word of God - and people knew that then and need to know it today.
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Matthew 22:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
Luke 4:32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.
Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
Luke 4:4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
Luke 11:28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
Revelation 6:10 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held
Revelation 19:13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
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Do you see? Do you?
The word of God, the Bible is the receptable that brings the word of God to us. We weren't alive as Moses parted the Red Sea, we weren't alive when Jesus spoke his words from the Mount of Olives, we weren't alive when the apostles spread the news and people had their hearts convicted by those words, by that news being given them. We weren't about when the early Christians were persecuted, or when down through the ages mankind has been martyred for the the word of God, for Jesus. We are about now though, and we live in such complacency alongside something so amazing and we don't even realize what we are turning our nose up to.
There are people today who are being martyred for God, for Jesus, for the Word of God. If you don't believe me go here and read:
Christians Martyred
Christian News Service - Worthy News
Scroll down to Christian News and you'll read some remarkable articles. Things that are going on in our world today that are barbaric and all in the name of Christian persecution.
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How could the Bible not be powerful and real and a truth to be devoured and absorbed by us? God wants us to know him, to know the past, the present, and even the future and he has given us His word so that we may do just that.
A powerful word, something we need to study and understand, to look at and realize the signs of the times we are living in.
Lets not treat the Bible as something that we've so much of about us that it no longer appeals. Let us crave to hear it, to study, to know it as if it were that special treat you hunger for, be filled by God, over and over and thirst for this special treat that you will never grow sick of, never. Don't let the fact the Bible is readily obtained lull you into the belief it's lost its power or importance, it's just another ploy of the devil to mislead, to lure you into his complacency. Let us not be a party to his deception, pick up the powerful word of God and let it fill our souls.
In Jesus's name that is my prayer for us.