Are you a Teapot?

 

 

Sorry, I couldn't resist the title!

The Bible uses different kinds of vessels to describe us, for example, sometimes clay pots and sometimes wineskins. I want to use the difference between clay pots and wineskins as an analogy. I am in no way saying this is how the Bible uses these terms.

When you pour liquid into a dry, hardened clay pot, the liquid is forced to take the shape of the pot. That would be like being unchanged by God's truth and forcing it to change to agree with us. We do this by only hearing what fits us.

Some might accept that God is love but reject that Jesus performed miracles, or that God commanded Israel to kill the Canaanites. On the other hand, some might accept all the verses that say do and don't do. But they might reject all the verses that say we have been forgiven once for all time; there is no condemnation, or that we have been made righteous and sanctified. These would be examples of only hearing what fits us and changing it to suit us.

However, the idea is not that we change God's word to fit us, but that we are changed by God's word. If you pour only a little wine into a wineskin the wineskin will hold its shape. However, if you fill a wineskin it will bulge; it will be forced to change. This is like taking in God's word even when it becomes uncomfortable.

Another issue

Another issue is being rigid about what we have already received. I have often puzzled over my own story. When I first became a Christian, I prayed for good Bible teaching. I was "miraculously" given a set of tapes by a respected Bible teacher. I listened to all of the tapes again and again. He covered so much that I found myself quoting him nearly every time a Biblical discussion came up. I had asked and God had given. However, as time went on, I started to find that some of the things he taught were not true. Not all of them. I wouldn't say he was an out-and-out con man. There were just some things he either didn't get right or on the odd occasion he employed a "preacher's license!" (Which should not be an acceptable thing at all. If you don't know admit that you don't know!)

I questioned this. I had asked for good teaching and to know the truth of God's word. For many years I thought I had received good teaching. But now so much of what he said doesn't seem so good. What was God's plan? One answer might be wisdom. We might need to learn that the teacher isn't infallible. If a teacher were infallible they would be equal to scripture. Also, it would mean we could put our faith in them, making them equal to God. God is a jealous God, we trust in Him alone.

The answer is probably that God's timeline is different to ours. I ask for good teaching; I get a lot of Bible teaching tapes, and I assume the answer is complete. However, the answer is still ongoing. It's not like getting a bike for Christmas. This is education, when does education finish? It doesn't end until we do!

Jesus said that we need every word which comes from the mouth of God (Mt 4:4). Notice that this is present tense, "is coming" or "is proceeding", It can also be translated as "flowing from!" (Which I like). Notice also that it isn't the same as saying God is speaking the word. The word is seen as its own entity and is bringing itself from God's mouth. Like water from a spring, the word proceeds from the mouth of God. Bear in mind that God may not even have a mouth!

We could take this to mean that the word was proceeding from the mouth of God at the time Jesus was speaking. Or we could take it that we are in a living relationship with Him and He wants us to always be receiving His living and active word. As our Father, He is always showing us, His children, things from His word that we haven't seen before.

Why do we read the Bible?

I think we sometimes miss what the Bible is about. Some see it as a book of rules. Some see it as something we must interpret in order to live by. Some see it as a prompt to reason. But there is something much more Spiritual about it. Look at these verses:

 'Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”' John 8:31-32

"This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and Him whom you sent, Jesus Christ." John 17:3

"Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth." John 17:17

The more we know God's truth the more we know God and the more free we become.

As well as being the kind of people who can force what we receive to fit us by picking and choosing which parts we accept. We can also have the problem of sticking to the first thing we were taught as Christians. We can feel that it was God-given and can't be questioned.

Our quest is to "grow" in God's truth. We are to know the dimensions of it, which means learning what it isn't as much as what it is. There is so much that is taught in the Christian faith that is superficial. We never question it because we have heard it so many times. 

The "illusory truth effect" is the tendency to believe false information to be correct after repeated exposure. The Bible calls these winds of doctrine. However, many of them are so ingrained that we do not even think to question them. We are by nature quite lazy. Oh, you might think you are always busy, but this kind of laziness is psychological. It is the laziness that says, "I don't need to look that up because I know what it says." Stubbornness would be another word for it! A laziness that doesn't like to have our thinking or ideas challenged.

For me, my foundational teaching was from a Bible teacher. But what if it was someone's beloved parent who told them? What if it was a dear friend or someone who had really helped them in a time of need? It can feel disloyal to the person who told us to now change what we believe, especially if we really felt God was involved at the time.

The Trap of Idolatry

Another thought that comes to me is - do we love the image of God we have more than God as He is revealed in His word? You may have heard someone say something like "My God would never do that!" while directly contradicting what the Bible says God did. That is turning God into a false God of our own invention. That's Idolatry and people were stoned for that under the Law. Thank God that we are not under the Law!

"Words of Comfort"

I have called this site "Words of Comfort." It was intended to show that the truth of God's word is comfort. However, if we are rigid, even words of comfort are uncomfortable. I'm sure you have seen the common scene in many TV dramas of a distraught person refusing to be comforted. We can sympathise with their not wanting to be comforted in that moment. But we can also see that their distress is temporary. Yet some people never want to be comforted.

God says that His truth is comforting. Yet some people refuse to be comforted. They would subjectively say that God's truth is not comforting. Like a child who is too scared to have a splinter removed. Or the teenager who wants to believe that only they are suffering the way they are and no one else can possibly understand. God understands everything and He knows how to remove splinters!

We also know that there are times when learning God's truth is uncomfortable; like when the wine forces a wineskin to change shape. But this discomfort is only temporary. The truth sets us free. Having freedom can feel scary. But the more we learn about God, the more we can trust in His love, grace and mercy.