This week a friend challenged me to rethink an aspect of the character of God I’ve held for years.
In sweetness, she expressed her disagreement that the Scriptures actually teach the position I’ve held.
It’s not a theological game changer.
However, this will give me a little different lens through which I read, and subsequently, understand portions of the Word of God.
The brave thing to do is to dig in and do some detailed study.
Instead, I find myself arguing within my own mind the reasons I believe what I think I know.
Why do I do this?
Easy answer.
Because I do not wish to deconstruct my own theology in order to reconstruct it.
I don’t (AT ALL) mind being wrong.
I am a stickler for speaking the truth of the Word of God with as much integrity as possible.
But tearing down and rebuilding……..anything………is time consuming.
I’d rather not go to all that effort.
New just seems easier.
Like building a new house, rather than tearing down bits and pieces of the old, and re-modeling.
It’s just so messy.
Yet, as I prayed about this morning’s blog, I’ve realized this is, inevitably, what I will need to do.
Pray.
Assess.
Tear down.
Build back up.
Here’s the thing that’s important, however.
I build back up in order to have a stronger faith.
I build back up in order to protect my faith in God, and my love for Jesus…really, for the Trinity’s sake…
I build back up in order to bring GLORY TO THE GOD OF THE BIBLE.
I build back up in order that my God not be slighted, mocked, or ridiculed in any way.
It’s interesting, because this is exactly what Nehemiah did when he left Persia to reconstruct the wall that had been broken down surrounding Jerusalem.
The book that is titled by his name is what I’ve been reading and studying the last several weeks.
Nehemiah has given me a model for “reconstructing” my ideas of God’s character.
Many, it seems, are beginning to “deconstruct” their belief systems in today’s Christian circles.
I’m reading almost daily about some who have, not just deconstructed their faith, but walked away from it entirely.
A few are deconstructing, then rebuilding from the rubble, and finding new ways to live out their faith in a way that is “fitting” for them.
It’s not wrong to deconstruct, as long as we reconstruct something that is lasting, protective, and God-honoring.
So, I find myself sitting on the edge of re-thinking this one particular facet of God’s character, praying for the many who are questioning the faith-legacy passed down to them, and desiring to make changes.
As in Nehemiah’s day, I pray they rebuild their faith with the bricks of the old foundation as much as possible.
As with Jerusalem’s wall, I pray that the temple that is their hearts, is surrounded by a strong, protective guardrail of TRUTH.
I pray they find a deeper love for the God of the Bible, the Trinity…
I pray God is glorified in the end….and as in Nehemiah’s day, I pray revival is the result.
But, the work will be messy.
The work will be hard.
The enemy will come against to distract.
In the end, I pray for zealous followers of Jesus, whose greatest goal is to bring Him glory.
This will only happen as we “deconstruct” that which we think we know, and “reconstruct” with the right materials.
A couple of days ago, the “right materials” became very clear to me, as I read Psalm 12:6:
The words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
We can only re-build based on the pure, perfect, complete, faithful stones of truth: the Word of the Lord!
This is what I intend to do as I seek to discover just what God’s Word says about the God I want to know in reverence and awe.