[183 words]
It’s hard for us to conceive of someone standing face-to-face with God and saying, “Lord, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m smarter than you.”
And yet, in reality, people do that all the time, even many who claim to be Christians.
I once was studying the Bible with a man who believed in the false notion that we are saved by faith alone. I showed him the only place in the Bible where that phrase is used.
“You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24 NASV).
And instead of bowing to God’s will, the man got angry and tore (ripped) James 2 out of his Bible and said, “That’s not in my Bible!” He was disagreeing with God. And when we refuse to follow God’s will in our lives—whether it involves morality or scriptural worship or the plan of salvation or church government—if we refuse to follow God’s commands, we are disagreeing with God.
“If you love me,” Jesus said, “you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).
Larry Fitzgerald
Woodlawn church of Christ
Abilene, TX