You know what bothers me? Picky eaters when it comes to the bible. They pick and choose what they like and talk about how good the food is and are so thankful and satisfied with it. But then they see food in front of them that they don't like. So they push it to the side and continue on with the other food that they do enjoy. Maybe this food they didn't like was too spicy. They didn't want to try it out in small helpings at first and then keep escalating when their tastebuds could handle more heat. It was too hard, too much work, so they just push it aside.
So many people do this with the bible. They love the stuff where Jesus is performing miracles or when Paul is telling the church in Thessalonica that through their perserverance and faith in their suffering, they have become examples and are spreading the gospel in 1 Thessalonians 1. But wait, then they get to chapter 4 and they get a different taste in their mouths, one they're not sure of they like. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 says: God wants you to be holy and to stay away from sexual sins. Pretty straight forward right? But then they start thinking, "But...if I stop having sex with my boyfriend he might break up with me...plus, I like sex...it'll be too hard to stop now...and we're going to get married eventually anyways...ah, I'm sure it's fine. God won't care. It's just sex. Everyone has sex!" And so they push the food aside. They still love food, just not that food. This, of course, isn't a problem with real food, but when it comes to spiritual food, you can't just pick out the parts that you like and leave the rest for whoever wants it. You need all of it to stay spiritually strong and healthy. Will some of the stuff that God tells you to do be hard? Heck yes! Will you always want to do it? Nope! But does Daddy know best? Always. He's the author of the world, do you think that just maybe, just maybe he knows what he's talking about?
Blessings,
Ariel
This was a good one, Ariel. We definitely do this too often- we compromise. Too many people have the philosophy to take in what they want, and toss out whatever is politically incorrect or doesn't feel good to them. But the truth of the matter is this- God didn't make His commandments to be a big meanie in the sky who egotistically wants His creatures to follow arbitrary rules. He enacts these commands because He loves us (His justice STEMS from love). So when He commands us not to have sex before we're married (for example), it's because He wants to protect us, not because He wants to take away our pleasure or fun. He knows the repercussions to every sin, and each sin causes us harm eventually.
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