"Is Old School Bible Relevant Today?" INTRO

I recently gave in.  I couldn’t continue to go forward working with the older version of my phone.  It was running slow, some things were not loading right, and it seemed that it wouldn't hold a charge  long after hours on the charger.  I was fed up...  See, I am basically very loyal, so when I get a phone, I intend to take care of it,  and keep it for a long time, regardless to how many new versions show up each year.  Since I only use it for the basic things that it is intended for, I don’t crave all the bells and whistles, however, I have found that even when I use it for the basics, eventually it will lose it’s power to perform at it's best.  

Some might say my loyalty is also seen in my trust in the word of God.  See I have been saved since 1980 and the same word that kept me then, keeps me now. The same word that held hope for me then, holds hope for me now.  I am loyal to it, and it is loyal to me!  I will admit, things have really changed quite a bit, not just with technology, but with people.  Our thoughts, how we handle things, and what we expect out of life is on a new level.  All the advances in this world often leave those of us in the church feeling left out, almost antiquated.  We still have the same bible, the same ten commandments, we still have 66 books and still have the same disciples. Yes we can download our bibles online now and even see all the versions on one page, but the guidelines and content is still the same.  There are NO CUTTING EDGE UPGRADES.  But I am sure of this, in my experience the word of God is strong, well and still applicable for today!  Our problem is that we don't know it. 

A SEARCH FOR RELEVANCE

IN PLANS

"God has a great plan for your life!"  Today telling someone that God has a plan  does not always go over good- it did when people had no clue or plan of their own.  Today even  children have started businesses and excel- a teen can be drafted out of high school to play sports, and many have skipped college to pursue dreams successfully. Following a traditional road seems slow and unnecessary, especially when social media allows us to be seen and flaunt our gifts outside our stomping grounds.  Opportunity is there to get paid for your unusual talent, gift or even for posting a video of someone eating!  We have so many ways that we can decide what we want to do, so the question is asked... "Is the word of God and His plans relevant today?"   We are more likely to have our own plans today, and some may feel God’s plan does not fit in with theirs.

IN LOVING ENEMIES

When we talk about loving our neighbors, is that relevant in a time that people kill randomly?  Today your neighbor may shoot you for looking at them wrong, then claim they were ‘in fear for their life”, and as we have seen in the past, they may get off.  It makes NO sense to love people who use us and intentionally try to kill others.  Surely God expects us to arm ourselves and protect our lives and our families!  Is the word of God irrelevant in telling us to "love our enemies"?

BELIEVING THE BEST

In a time of watching people do completely STUPID things, like licking food, urinating on store shelves and laying on produce in our local grocery stores, how can we have patience and as the bible says “Believe the best”?  When we see the decline in basic human decency towards each other, or see how people may regard animals more than humans, it is hard to believe in mankind.  When our political atmosphere forgets that we are all immigrants and every person deserves to pursue a good life; when money alone determines your value in the justice system or in your ability to be educated in order to be productive in this world, we can really have a hard time believing the best in people,  or the system, and may even have difficulty believing the best  for our future.  Yet, the word of God tells us to do that.  Does that really fit today?

TIME FOR AN UPGRADE

As a Christian, it might seem that the bible that we loved so much is now out of date, and only worked for our parents and grandparents,  it may seem that it no longer has enough power to keep us in this day and time.   Is it time for an upgrade?  And if we were going to upgrade, where do we get it from?  I will say YES!  We need an upgrade, but this upgrade is not to change the word of God, but to change us, how we perceive it and to be encouraged to follow a living, loving God. 

In the next few blogs, we will examine various areas that we need to upgrade our thinking.   Just so you know… THE BIBLE IS EXTREMELY RELEVANT!  Why would God make a human who could build a device that is smarter than Him?   God’s word has some automatic upgrades, we just stopped receiving them.  We stopped when we figured it was out of date or when we thought that who God is and was, was suitable for our grandparents, but we are a different generation.   The bible says that the word of God is LIVING.  Which means it adjusts as needed to the environment and sudden needs without losing it’s base. It has it’s own data base.  Which means whenever you are disconnected from help, from information, from power… God’s word is ever present, ready to connect you to the promises in His word, and His will for your life.   

Join us on the next few blogs when we deal with the relevance of the Word of God for today!