Back in the Scriptural and gratitude saddle

One of the things about the Bible that I think goes unnoticed by most is the fact that it is so vast that no single person, aside from Jesus who wrote it Himself (along with Father God and Holy Spirit), has ever fully known all of it.

In 2013, I read through the entire thing from Genesis to Revelation through the entire year for the first time ever. Of course, I thought that because I'd finally read through it all, I knew it all. Like reading the entire Bible was just a checkmark off the bucket list, and nothing more. But, that's not the case.

Even though I would say I've been saved since I got baptized in late 2013, there have been points along the way where I would discover verses or passages or even entire topics mentioned in Scripture that I never knew were in there.

This past week, this particular verse really spoke to me:

7 You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? 8 It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. 9 This false teaching [for context, it was about circumcision] is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough! 10 I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you.
11 Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised—as some say I do—why am I still being persecuted? If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be offended. 12 I just wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves. 

Galatians 5:7-12, New Living Translation

I'll be frank: the last few years have been rough, big-picture-wise. Long gone has been the youthful, optimistic hope that accompanies the "honeymoon" period of what I consider God's restoration project that is my life and my story over the last decade. While there still have been many happy moments and many beautiful moments over the last few years, and while I've still experienced plenty of continued redemption in my life during this time, there have also arisen a small variety of surprising challenges I either never thought I'd have to face, or hoped I'd never have to face. But that's not life. And I've let these things either get me down or lead me to get angry at God and blame everything wrong on Him.

So the above passage spoke to me several things:
1.) God doesn't ever hold me back from following the truth. Ever.
2.) I still regularly believe and buy into yeast like what Apostle Paul refers to.
3.) But I can -- and must -- drop it off at the cross.
4.) God wants me to be free from all this yeast.
5.) Jesus wants me to be free from all this yeast.
6.) Therefore, He must also want to keep me from continuing to believe the false teachings that I have.
7.) And therefore, it is written, God will judge the persons responsible for confusing me and for holding me back from following the truth.

In the few days since, I've had the following passages come up in my devotionals:

31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 

John 8:31-32, New International Version

[The declaration that I felt God saying to me: Jesus promises that if I hold to His teaching, I will then know the truth, and it will set me free.]

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Galatians 5:16, New International Version

Gratify (I had to go look this word up!) [verb] to give pleasure to (a person or persons) by satisfying desires or humoring inclinations or feelings:

1 Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more. 2 For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3 God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. 4 Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor— 5 not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. 

1 Thessalonians 4:1-5, New Living Translation

In last Sunday's message, my church's pastor tore down a the following argument that for some reason seems to be common among people who identify as Christians in our society: "I like the teachings of Jesus, but not the teachings of Paul." He went on to say that, because of Apostle Paul's encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and the three days after, everything Paul preached, he got from Jesus.

3 As [Paul, who was then known as Saul] was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
5 “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.
And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! 8 Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. 9 He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink. 

Acts 9:3-9, New Living Translation

As one might surmise after reading this passage, to discredit Paul is to also discredit Jesus. In a similar way, my encounters with Scripture over the past week -- which really was a re-connecting with Scripture -- have reflected a lot of the same themes that I've been encountering:

1.) Scripture -- like God -- is so vast that I'll never comprehend all of it in one lifetime.

2.) As such, there will arise times where I'll come across a passage or a truth that did not previously click or become brought to my attention in the same way. Galatians 5:7-12 was a powerful way for God to get my attention.

3.) The truth will set me free, and God will render justice to those who have confused me. (Evidently, I'm not too jaded to buy into that!)

4.) I'm hearing God putting a spotlight specifically on not caving to temptation, specifically the lustful desires of the flesh. In other words, a very specific instruction that He wants to be sure I follow, really always, but especially at this time.

5.) Even though Apostle Paul is very much human (see Galatians 5:12 -- I had to crack a smile at that one!), and even though as a result some sections in some of his letters will rub some people the wrong way, it is clear that God has approved of Paul's letters to the various churches across Rome, Greece, and Asia Minor. Paul's letters are very much also Spirit-inspired, and his humanness does not take away from the Spiritual power his letters have.

6.) This below passage:

14 Do everything without complaining and arguing, 15 so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. 16 Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. 

Philippians 2:14-16, New International Version

This is one of those passages that it has taken me a while to warm up to. An earmark of my having been angry at God about things in my life is constant complaining and arguing. And, for the non-believer, it's not wrong to be angry at God and tell Him how you feel. But in my case, this anger, complaining, and arguing had been going on for some years. At some point, enough is enough. And when I came across this passage this past week (in fact, just a couple days ago!), I didn't get defensive about it. And as a matter of fact, later on this particular day, I got a phone call. I'm not at liberty to reveal anything in regards to this phone call, but needless to say, I'm feeling much more hopeful and excited. If all goes the way I hope, five or six steps out from the present, this would represent one big prayer groan answered, as well as continue to build hope for a few other big prayer groans that I'm also yearning to be answered.

7.) A good friend of mine at my church, last Sunday, encouraged me to get back into the practice of focusing on thanking God for what I do have, for my daily devotionals. (For me, that also meant getting back into my daily devotionals.) A couple years ago, I had more faithfully kept a gratitude journal, but for some reason fell completely off the practice, to the point that my last entry was from 2018. I've dived completely back in this past week.

The beat goes on...