Growing up, I had a friend who was a “Bible thumper.” He was the equivalent of the Spanish Inquisition with Southern Baptist theology. What he was saying was out of the Bible, technically, but instead of using scripture as a scalpel, he liked to wield it as a broad sword. Woe to anyone who was in arm’s reach of him.
I’ll bet most people have encountered (or are related to!) someone like my
friend. It’s these kinds of people we like to keep our distance from, lest they come down on us like a ton of bricks for a small, or God forbid, a large infraction of the rules.
And let’s be honest – the Bible has some pretty crazy guidelines. Looking at a woman lustfully is just as bad as adultery? Whoa. Don’t be jealous of what someone else has? That’s really hard sometimes.
There are boundaries in every relationship. Just like our interactions with friends, family, and strangers, there are rules. Most of the time, they go unspoken because they’re so blatantly obvious; other times, we learn them through community. One never comes home and casually asks their spouse, “So, were you faithful to me today?” It is understood what a marriage relationship requires.
Like the loved one who is kind enough to let you know when you’re making a fool or yourself or being hurtful, the Bible holds up that mirror to us. All relationships have boundaries and our relationship with God is no different. The decrees the Lord put in the Bible are to keep us to His standard, which can set the bar pretty high at times. The Lord gave these commands out of love for us so we could be more like Him.
The Bible was not designed to be brandished as a weapon, intending to maim it’s target. Is it meant to break our hearts, as we fall short of being Christ-like in our lives; to convict us of the malignant sin in our midst. It is meant to correct us when we waiver from the way, the truth, and the life. It is meant to uplift us in those low moments and rejoice with us on those mountain tops of life. It is so we can be more like Jesus and treat those in our lives as Jesus would treat them if he were in our place.
There is nothing easy about being a Christian: this is not a path for the faint of heart.
“For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matt. 7:14)