James 1:19 tells us that we should "be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger..." These are the thoughts God places on my heart.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Did you hear about Blasphemy Day? I discovered this latest version of the Devil's work via a newspaper article describing that yesterday was apparently the time for the world to "promote freedom of speech and the freedom to challenge, criticize and satirize religion without fear of murder, litigation and reprisal." I mourned Blasphemy Day by praying that the Lord would come into the hearts of these misguided souls. When I turned to the scripture today, miraculously I landed on 1 Timothy. In Chapter 1, Timothy talks about the exact kind of folks that would find satirizing religion to be a form of entertainment. 1 Timothy 1:3-11 says, "I repeat the request I made of you when I was on my way to Macedonia, that you stay in Ephesus to instruct certain people not to teach false doctrines or to concern themselves with myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the plan of God that is to be received by faith. The aim of this instruction is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Some people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk, wanting to be teachers of the law, but without understanding either what they are saying or what they assert with such assurance. We know that the law is good, provided that one uses it as law, with the understanding that law is meant not for a righteous person but for the lawless and unruly, the godless and sinful, the unholy and profane, those who kill their fathers or mothers, murderers, the unchaste, sodomites, kidnapers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is opposed to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted." I encourage you to spend some time with this epistle as it certainly brought me comfort in the wake of Blasphemy Day.