Council Grove Christian Church

3/11/26

Servants of God,
“ Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect..”
-Romans 12:2
 
Is your Bible reading making you think? It should be. In fact, genuine Bible reading should always bring some level of change into our lives. The scripture not only reveals facts; it trains and teaches us how to think. Genesis 1:1 ought to train us how to view the world around us.  It is created and thus has a creator who is God. That fact alone can preserve us from the shear foolishness of believing that it took billions of years for blind chance (whatever that is) to bring our universe into existence. Carl Sagen’s famous pontification that “The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be” is not science. It is a statement of faith. Of course, Sagen, like most unbelievers did not want there to be a personal God who created the universe. That would have meant that humans (including Sagen) were responsible to God.
 
The Bible trains us to submit our lives—including our thought lives—to God. Fallen humans do not much care for that whole business of submitting to God. And that is our central issue—we humans are by nature rebellious. Genesis 3 teaches us how we got that way. Only a supernatural conversion of our hearts can change that. We must be born again. Most of the Bible is about how humans can be brought back into right relationship with the God we rebel against.
 
What is your Bible reading teaching you about the latest American war? How should Christians in America view the destruction and devastation of war? Certainly there is a time for war. Ecclesiastes 3 teaches us that. We wish it were not so, but fallen humans tend toward conflict if one party or the other cannot be reconciled when a disagreement occurs. Whether it is kids on the playground or protestors on the streets of Minneapolis, disagreements can grow violent. Death and destruction can, and often do, follow. James 4:1 and other scriptures points to the war going on inside human beings as the source of external disagreements and fights.
 
I think Christians often miss what the Puritans called the “sinfulness of sin.” We talk about sin, we know (if we are honest) that we have our own struggles with sin. We are part of that “all have sinned” group.  But do we give sin its due? Do we consider that wherever we observe disorder in the universe we are seeing the consequences of sin? And do we consider that the only thing in human history that has truly mitigated sin is the gospel of Jesus Christ?
 
I know that bad actors in the world need to be brought to heel. I know that some individuals and some nations only behave well when there is a credible threat of punishment for bad behavior. The beauty of the impact of the gospel is seen when humans do not simply fear punishment for bad behavior but truly desire to rid their lives of it and desire to live lives ordered by God.
 
Islam promises order via Sharia law. It is a lie. It is fraught with fear and punishment for some while others get wildly indulged and are free to dominate and humiliate either their vanquished foes or their multiple wives.
 
American Christians who read their Bibles seriously know that only the gospel holds hope for individuals and nations. America once was impacted significantly by gospel truth. As the belief in the gospel has waned or been twisted into a grotesque power grab, disorder has grown. The shared moral values that made America both a great and a good nation are fading away. The silly utopian ideas of socialism and Communism are stealing the vigor of our work ethic and the discipline of self-government. The love for possessions and pleasure is robbing us of the joys of stewardship and the honest accumulation of wealth. Real human satisfaction involves righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. That is how the Apostle Paul described the nature of the Kingdom of God (Romans 14:17).
 
Is your Bible reading taking you deeper into the Kingdom of God? Is it bringing your thoughts and emotions and actions under the reign and rule of Jesus Christ? If not, maybe it is time for a recalibration. Good Bible reading involves at least three things: Observation; Interpretation; and Application. As Christians we do well to think vigorously about the things going on around us through the filter of holy scripture. Approaching life any other way will lead to disorder in every area of our lives. I think Christians should read like our lives and the welfare of our nation depend upon it.
 
Blessings,
 
Pastor John
Coram Deo