Have you ever been around people that are always looking to point out your faults and they use little trite, out-of-context scriptures to pound on you? It is becoming more of a practice in our world and it is an attempt to set up a higher position for them (in their minds) but it really only shows their true heart. God's Word is not supposed to be a hammer for other born-again sinners to use to elevate themselves and when people do this it is no big surprise to Jesus. The Pharisees tried to use the Word of God against Jesus, who is the Word. Dumb huh? Pride and self-righteousness can cause a lot of dumb things to come to the surface in all our lives. That is why we must never weaponize the Word of God for our own use. John 8:3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. 4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” 6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. 9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” 11 “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
I believe well-meaning believers can get caught up in trying to pigeonhole people by judging them and then taking the judgment a step further and using the Bible to beat on them and love is never evident when that is done. I can almost guarantee if you get a group of "Christians" together who have low self-esteem and let them begin talking about the Word of God they will segue into trying to show they are more Godly and that is when the judging begins and warps into a full Pharisee attitude. Instead of having an open door to those who need Jesus, we have closed the door by becoming like the Pharisees and the end result is a Weaponized Word instead of a Loving Word.
Since our righteousness comes from God it is important to let God show us how to use that Word in a loving manner in order to help and not hurt. When we stand before Jesus at the judgment seat and bring up how we shouldn't have done this or that it will be a very short dialogue when Jesus says "I don't see this on your account." The human account of wrongs will not be used because our sins are gone as far as it is from East to West and never to be brought up again.
If we are going to weaponize the Word of God we should be the first to go to a lost and dying world and reach them with a love message and not condemn them ourselves. Why? WE HAVE NO RIGHT!!
The Pigrimage Continues
David Warren
留言