My back hurts. My shoulders hurt. My arms hurt. I’m tired from swinging a heavy tool to remove a wet tile floor from a flooded house. It was not easy, but I got it done.
Y’all understand hard work. I know you do. Sometimes a task seems insurmountable, but you simply have no choice. So you keep working and eventually you finish. Do you ever feel that way trying to understand a Bible passage?
Do you ever feel the Bible is hard work, hard to understand? You are not alone.
Did you know that one Bible writer actually admitted that the writings of another Bible writer were difficult to understand?
But we have a lot more help than they did back then. For example, at the Bible Gateway website you can read the same verse in over SIXTY English translations. If one confuses you, perhaps another won’t. And there are Bible commentaries online as well, and sermons, and hundreds of articles on every passage in the Bible. The trick is knowing on which sources you can rely.
The Bible can be tough. But don’t be SOFT. YOU CAN DO IT! Put in the hard work and you will figure it out. Just like Simon Peter, who wrote:
“Paul speaks about these things in all his letters, in which there are some things that are difficult to understand” 2 Peter 3:16.
Other translations of Peter say there are parts that are “overwhelming and complicated to understand,” or that there are “difficult passages.” But Peter’s point is “untaught and unstable” people twist difficult passages to their own destruction.
Don’t let people twist the scriptures—not even the hard ones. Instead, work hard and do your own research. Paul’s writings may contain difficult passages, but there are always answers if you’re willing to dig.
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Household Words: 