Discerning Misinterpreted Scriptures Series
There
are many scriptures from Bible which believers, disciples and even
skeptics sometimes cherry-pick to either approve the 'wrong' they are doing/believe or reject the 'right' what others are doing. In my life I have
met many disciples in my vicinity who are constantly being trapped by
enemy in vicious cycle of legalism by wrongly interpreting the
Scriptures by either taking it out of context or ignoring what the
spirit want us to understand.
This
little thought series is my humble attempt in sharing few of such scriptures
which are vastly misinterpreted. I can't dare to claim that my
interpretation is the only way these scriptures can be understood but
its more to share how we can easily misinterpret these important scriptures and
there by failing to apply these scriptures in our lives for a truly life
changing impact.
Are you hiding behind "1 Timothy 3:4-5"?
To just begin this series I would like to share one of the scriptures which I have found many times used either by disciples or by those who want to ignore or neglect the calling of Lord in their personal lives.
Please read: 1 Timothy 3:4-5:
(KJV) One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
(NIV) He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?)
(NAS) He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?).
(Note: This reference of "managing house" is also evident in 1 Timothy 3:12)
Disciples too often use this scripture to either neglect the calling of Lord in their lives or even as an awry excuse that they are not worthy or even qualified to do the work of lord in the pretext of not being able to fulfill their respective day to day household responsibilities. Not to mention that Enemy can even give this as a pernicious weapon in the hands of either of the spouses to discourage or bring down the zeal of other partner who might be desperately trying to flourish in the Lord's kingdom.
Well I completely agree that it does bring into the light the fact that a disciple who is not good in "managing his house and keeping his children under godly subjection", may become a poor servant of Lord but at the same time this verse 'does not imply' that a disciple is ill-equipped in any way or is not allowed to toil in the Lord's vineyard until all his household works are over or finished.
As Corrie Ten Boom puts it "If the devil cannot make us bad, he will make us Busy.", we have to understand its very easy for Enemy to trap us in an endless cycle of tasks that can very well keep your focus away from God.
If we ever be able to think even once during our lifetime that all our Household responsibilities are now over and that we have well managed our houses, then it should not come as surprise to you that either Lord has already returned in His full glory or that its time for us to check out from this world and sadly, in either cases if at all we somehow make up to heaven by Grace of God, it will be just a set of two empty hands that you and me will be showing to our Lord in Heaven.
Not to mention that Satan has all the tools in his bag to keep you distracted from the actual purpose of your life. He can make you feel Hungry; Tired; bothers you with the grocery list, music or tuition lessons of kids, brings petty shopping sprees every now and then, will make you attend phone calls when it can be avoided, tempt to spend hours surfing the internet or on social media, or even attending to your trivial to-do list etc.
Well I agree that many of the above mentioned things are indeed important for us and must be done but "are these" or "should these" be really a divergence from our responsibilities towards God or God's people?
A word of caution "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." -Luke 12:34. I agree in principle that Family must be the most valuable gift of God for us and that we should cherish, care and nurture it to the fullest in this world but if it becomes our "only treasure" then we are undoubtedly rebelling against God by breaking God's 1st and 2nd Commandment.
I would like to conclude this short thought with the words of Ezra Taft Benson which goes like this "When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities."
Lets continue manage our houses well but lets not forget that God Comes first and that He is the one who is the source of everything even our families.
In His Vineyard,
Bro. Santosh Thankachan
PS: Please feel free to share your comments and thoughts on this short article
