Ineffective

Ineffective

10/12/15

How many times in our lives have we depended on a situation, person or place to fulfill our current affairs just to have them be wiped out by faulty equipment or timing?  If I would take a simple survey of people around my town almost all would identify with this setting.  It does not matter what type of setting we might discuss, as humans we fail or experience failures every day and in some cases we find out that our faith fails us as well.  But that should never be the case in fact God has provided us with the perfect defensive and offensive weapon for us to always be prepared when attacks or hardship situations come our way.  But sometimes when we use His Word is seems like it is not enough and the enemy pushes right over us without stopping.  There is a reason for this and one that we need to understand so that his momentum is stopped when God’s Word is used.

Growing up a preacher’s kid meant that we moved around a lot.  I did not mind this too much, but I can understand why it would be difficult for others, especially when it came to friends and family being left behind.  When I was a youngster this moving around meant longer trips to see my grandparents which was not a problem most of the time for I knew that when we reached our destination there would be ample amount of time for me to play.

My grandparents on my mother’s side lived in Colorado, actually in the time frame that I am going to be referring to they lived out in the country in Utah, and to make it even better the place that they lived at had acres and acres of playing space with so many things to do.  During one summer trip I remember that I had been given a BB gun as a present but living in the closed-in world of the town I did not have too many opportunities to try out this gift of mine.  The perfect opportunity presented itself to me when this specific summer trip came around and the Utah farm served as the perfect setting.

At that time, as I am sure with today, there were a few types of BB guns on the market but the one that I had was nice and plain with no special gimmicks on it.  It served my purposes well and was the perfect BB gun for my short self, it was plain and it got the job done quite nicely.  I had no ambitions of owning any more at the time nor did possessing a BB gun grant me the urge to have more guns down the road of my life; this little thing did me well for the time being.

As I stated above my mother’s parents lived out in the country with a few neighbors around but mainly they were isolated from the public for them most part.  My uncle’s family lived about 30 minutes away and all of us would spend as much time as possible together even though summer is the busiest time of the year for farmers and ranchers.  My cousin was used to having guns around and was very experienced with many types of guns; a BB gun was light weight measures for him, but he had no problems showing me the ropes when it came to safety and all of the other issues to remember when dealing with guns.  He was going to be going with me on my first “hunting” expedition which was going to be right outside the driveway of the house.  Of course, he brought his gun as well just to show me how a stronger gun performs.  I never shot it or even held it for that matter, it made my BB gun look like a stick in comparison.

There were trees that surrounded the house on Cedar Point so it was not going to be hard to find a bird or two to take shots at and with it being my first time out “shooting” and being “armed” with a “high-powered” BB gun I was at the top of the world. As we came up to the first tree across the other side of the driveway my cousin stopped me and said for me to shoot at the tree that was in front of me.  I slowly took aim and pulled the trigger and the BB gun let out a quiet pop.  The BB hit the tree for both of us heard it hit the bark, but after the sound of it hitting, nothing else was noticeable, not even the place where the BB hit could be found.

We walked a few more steps and he noticed a small bird that was sitting on a telephone wire.  The wire was far enough away from the house or any other possible harmful area so my cousin said for me to shoot at the bird.  Being the expert with guns that I was, I once again quickly raised the BB gun up towards the bird and lined it up with my “sights” and pulled the trigger.  The same quiet pop came from the gun and I then was able to watch the BB hit the bird square in the breast.  A small puff of feathers moved as the BB impacted the bird.  I was amazed, my first shot at an animal and I hit the intended bird.  It was a perfect shot coming from a kid who had never fired anything ever before; but wait there is more.

However, something occurred immediately after that amazing shot, or I should say nothing occurred after that amazing shot. Even though I had luckily hit that bird square in the chest the impact of the BB did absolutely nothing to the bird, its feathers actually stopped the BB before it even had the chance to penetrate anything else.  The bird just sat there for a moment looking down at me, chirped for a bit longer while gazing down at the both of us.  After a few seconds the bird jumped from its wire perch and flew straight at me and buzzed close over my head making a huge statement that it was fine and that I had failed in my mission to shoot it. 

I was not familiar with guns at all and I had no idea that with the normalcy of my BB gun that its power would basically have no major impact on any animal that I shot at because of the slow velocity of the BB itself.  Unless I was aiming at an ant, my BB gun would not do any harm to any animal, I might be lucky for it to penetrate a paper target from ten feet away; this I proved later in the same day.  It was at this point that my super BB gun would not have any bearing on my safety if needed, but as soon as I had the opportunity to aim at another safe target this truth was far from my mind.

Within a few minutes after my bid to kill a bird failed my cousin set his sights on another bird that had perched itself on a telephone wire.  I stood in amazement as he squeezed the trigger perfectly and almost immediately the bird dropped from its wire perch and landed on the ground motionless.  It was over in a matter of seconds with no bird chirping and buzzing my head as a symbol of arrogance, this one did not make it off its perch voluntarily.  We took a few steps over to where the bird lay motionless and both of us looked at the setting.  It was not hard for me to understand that when one goes hunting that person must have an adequate gun big enough to get the job completed and that if you do not, you shall never be able to claim any success in this area.

Most people that hunt do not view the animals as an enemy but as food for their tables during the winter and spring.  But there is another setting that this example provides us when it comes to our spiritual enemy and how if we are adequately equipped with the proper weaponry our defenses cannot provide any offensive tactics against our eternal enemy.  There is no question that God has provided us with the one single perfect weapon against this enemy but if we do not know everything about its contents we shall not have the ability to use it effectively, it is simple as that.

But how can I make this statement when everyone knows that God’s Word is all authoritative and all powerful in all of its words and content?  It is an easy statement and proclamation to make because the majority of Christians do not understand its capacity for eternity and how it measures up against the enemy.  We use its words and content for our benefit, when we want it and leave it on the desk, couch, lamp stand to gather dust when we do not wish for it to be a part of our lives.  This is how I can use this statement and be accurate in its meaning.  It is true that there is no other and more effective weapon against the forces of darkness that rules this planet and is continually vying for our lives.  It is also true that our enemy understands the Bible through and through and knows its contents well enough to ensure our sleepiness towards everything that it says.

This is the part where we are not prepared to deal with and when our enemy comes face to face with us we quote a scripture at him and he turns around and buzzes our heads, all the while laughing at us because even though we know the verses by heart we do not understand the entire meaning of such verses and therefore, cannot spiritually assert their authority towards his existence. This renders our defenses ineffective against our enemy and provides no offensive mechanisms to advance the Kingdom of God.

A few weeks ago God shared with us about Abraham and how he knew the area of Sodom and Gomorrah well enough to argue with God about its impending destruction.  That is a setting that is well read and one that I have heard many times throughout my life, but I have never heard of why Abraham had the authority to ask God those questions and why God did not just tell his servant that he had no right to even consider the quests.  With God there is a purpose for everything and in order for that purpose to be fulfilled every step must be taken in order according to His plan, not human’s.  But in order for humans to question God’s plan of action they must be aware of the situation and in this case the surrounding spiritual capacity of Sodom and Gomorrah in order to have a leg to stand on when requesting such.  It is all part of having a relationship with God and understanding that there are two sides that are battling for our eternal lives and that one day we shall stand and face the music and account for our actions.

The majority of Christians use the Bible as a superficial band-aid that will produce a small result to ease our consciousness, but in reality all we are doing is setting up ourselves for a huge disappointment when a true test comes our way; in other words it will be like using my small BB gun against a bear, it simply is not going to work.  We need to live the Word of God and to absorb every detail about its content into our lives so that when these attacks come we will have the proper firepower to use against our enemy.  Simply stating that Satan has no authority over our lives and that he has to flee when we command him to in the name of Jesus will have no weight in his eyes if we do not understand why those words were written.  If we claim this verse and do not understand that there is a REAL war ongoing for our lives that weapon that was designed for our protection is laid useless because we do not fully know what it is supposed to do.

Ever get into a discussion with someone who does not believe in God and after using a specific example within the Bible their views and take on that setting become clearly different?  How do you handle this type of setting?  I see this type of activity occur almost every day in numerous settings and, for the most part, all of them have the same outcome, Christians becoming defensive and ugly with the people having different views strengthened in their stances because we have no clue how to relate the Bible to them in through effective measures and not condemning ones.  I am going to give an example of how this type of setting usually plays out and watch how it develops as you read along.  The words may not be exactly as your instance may remember, but it will be very close in stature. 

Setting: usually takes place with a Christian presenting one position and with another person who presents with another position, both of which are polar in ideologies, the argument begins.

Side one: This person uses a specific scripture to present their position as to why the other person is wrong.  This is a mistake because it sets the setting for a debate or argument which will define and continue to grow the division between those who do believe in God and those who have different visions about God.  When the rebuttal comes across the wire, the defensive mode arises from this person and the in-depth portions of the verse are not addressed at all.  Any hope of obtaining a sensible conversation between the two sides is now at a loss and no further co-joining can occur.  This is the perfect example of how ineffective my little BB gun was on the bird, the setting was there and due to the lack of knowledge about what the setting was in the verse caused the situation to dissolve very quickly.  This is NOT how God intended for us to use His Word but it is exactly what our enemy wishes for us to use God’s Word.

Side Two: the person with the rebuttal obviously does not agree with the verse and with the person quoting or using this scripture.  This person will not argue with an in-depth meaning of the scripture either, for most of the time their knowledge of such truth is just as limited as the person representing side one.  If the person on this side does elaborate, it will be their selfish interpretation of the verse “in question” that they offer which incidentally will coincide with the way they believe and will contain no adverse meaning that could render them pain or complicating adversities with their opinions. 

In other words, there are no personal challenges with their opinions with themselves when in truth the Bible should always challenge our understanding and through these challenges there will be internal pain because of the realization of our separation from God.  The person on this side usually will add the phrase “that is your opinion” or something similar with their comment and to be honest usually paralyzes the person on side one.  This setting also represents the bird flying off the telephone wire and buzzing my head after the BB gun had no even penetrated past its feathers.

All throughout the Bible it is demonstrated that when people are used of God they act according to what the Scriptures say and what they represent.  This means that there is authority, the Divine authority in the laws and ways of God and they have been written down for our usage to lighten a darkened world.  But if we do not understand the entire picture about the scriptures our effectiveness to reach those in the dark becomes very limited and usually results in further division instead of togetherness.  It must be known that the people who do not know God or believe in God that they are NOT the enemy.  They are being influenced and controlled by our enemy but in no way are they themselves the enemy.  If we do not understand this truth there is no way that our weapon of light and life can be used in an effective manner.  It is trough this lack of understanding of the entire Word of God that our enemy manipulates Christians as well, and through our superficial “knowledge” of the Bible he has done a fantastic job in keeping the light dim.

This type of knowledge also explains a huge portion of Jesus’ ministry while He was here on earth.  This type of complete knowledge is also the exact way we need to talk to people about the Gospel and about the entire Word of God.  Many people make fun of Jesus’ ministry because He taught in parables, teachings that used illustrations to grab the people’s attentions about His Father and His ways, I have even heard Christians complain about these types of passages that they find them simple and false in their meaning and have no value to their teachings.  It is this type of understanding that displays the superficial caring that we have for God’s Word and it brings into play a toothless weapon against an eternal enemy.

It is an abomination for us to believe that we can get by with a superficial knowledge and understanding of God’s Word and still be effective for God’s Kingdom.  Jesus taught in parables because He understood the ways of His Father so well that He could bring them to the level of the people’s understandings of that day and age.  How many of us out there know God’s Word well enough to use situational history as such and give the people asking, arguing, or inquiring about God those types of answers? Jesus was not handing out stupid or inadequate answers to those around Him, He was effectively providing God’s Laws and Ways to them in manners in which they could understand.  Now, whether or not those people chose to accept these teachings or not was totally up to them but the knowledge that Jesus had about God’s Word was brilliantly told.

This is the effectiveness that we should be having when God’s Word is being ripped to shreds by those who wish to change what it states as truth.  But it is evident that we do not know the bible as such and as of this moment we are paralyzed well enough that we Christians cannot talk our way out of a wet and torn paper bag.  No wonder the Church has been rendered hapless, for it is the Church that does not desire to know God’s Word well enough to challenge the simplest worldly issue.

It has become clear that Christians are sitting around waiting for God to return and to fulfill His promises.  But I deeply regret to inform you that those promises will not come to us simply because we are living the lives of the Israelites that wandered 40 years in the desert, we totally refuse to take the time to understand the entire meaning of what God has in store for our lives and the only way that we can do this is to study and to live the Word of God completely.  It is time we wake up and get off our duffs study what God has for our lives.  It is our mission to find the lost as God sees fit and for us to tell them about His love for their lives.  We cannot accomplish this mission until we understand God’s Word enough to speak with effective life parables to those who are seeking God.  Until we repent of our sins and turn our hearts completely back to God, the mission of spreading the gospel will be totally ineffective, just as my BB gun was on that bird just a few feet away.

DLB