Headlines

     Not too long ago I shared a link to an article that read Chuck Norris died. Immediately people jumped on this as fake news. Given the current environment we live in that is understandable. It is harder than ever to discern what is truth and fiction. However, in this case if people had clicked on the link they would have seen it was not fake news but a joke about the invincibility of Chuck.

When I posted the link I had no idea it would turn into a social experiment. Yet I found it enlightening. It teaches us what happens when we don’t take the time to educate ourselves. In Acts 17 we have this group of people known as the Bereans. Luke records when they received the message one of the first things they did was “examine the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” They eagerly received the message then looked to the scriptures to see for themselves.

Let’s apply this to our preferred method of applying the scriptures to our lives. We’ve reduced it to a passage here and passage there. We clip it out of context and apply it to our lives, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me!” we cry as we seek our personal best for whatever goal we’ve set for ourselves. While it is good to have our favorite passage memorized many times these are but headlines of the greater message in His word. When we take the time to read with a goal to understand His word we are better able to understand who God is, who we are, what he desires for our lives. Reading beyond the headlines helps us stand against fake news theology that perverts who God is. In reading beyond the headlines of His word we are better suited to minister to those around us.
Determine to be more than Headline Christians but engaged followers of Christ.

“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11)

Pastor Rob