In the Gospels we see Jesus drawing one clear moral line after another. But today we are told it is the legalist or the Pharisee who draws moral lines.
Thus, when pastors release the Nashville Statement or similar statements of belief, the accusers salivate. The wolves descend.
“How dare you agree with Scripture.”
“It’s [the current year]!”
“How un-Christlike.”
What are we to make of this?
Those two words, “judge not,” can threaten to stop a dialogue.
But two more words can restart it: “keep reading.”
By the third verse Jesus has pointed out that we should indeed be judging our own spiritual state:
“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”
By the fifth verse Jesus commands that a hypocrite ought to take the beam out of his own eye:
“And then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”
One of the most important questions for the Christian thinker is:
How does the truth of Scripture relate to the truth of philosophy, or science, or history?
If we put it in terms of “revelation,” it becomes: How does special revelation relate to general revelation?
Since I believe the bible contains zero evidence that Jesus would support an involuntary, government run, inefficient “charity,” what do I think about Matthew 5:40–42?
And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you (ESV).
Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. -Hebrews 12:1b-2a
Do you want to know how to trust God through hardship? Try looking to Jesus as your example. What did Jesus do? Why did He do it?
