Leaven

One of the most dangerous leavens in the church today is the idea--not stated, but lived--that God's Word is just His opinion--and if I don't agree with it, that's just the way it is. He's entitled to His opinions, and I'm entitled to mine. God doesn't have opinions. He speaks what is true, and if I don't agree with Him, He can't walk with me, fill me with a sense of His presence. What He says about morality, the sanctity of life created in His image, His creation of the ...world, a government and its leaders responsibilites are not debatable. Oh, I may sit around and debate them all I like, but His answers never change. Are some of His declarations hard? Yes. But all of them come from the heart of the God who is love--and holy and just and immutable. What breaks this old man's heart is that it's not the world that's attacking His truth and trying to undermine it--"soften" it--but His people. Saltless salt is the most worthless thing in the world. Hidden light is the darkest thing in the world. I pray that God will keep me from deifying myself and trying to, knowingly or unknowingly, usurp His throne--to warp His grace into a license to sin--or an approval of it--and to twist His truth into my opinion. That will be the death of love and truth in my life. And I will become incapable of being like Him--full of grace and truth; visible grace and truth--in the lives He has sent me to in order to lavish them with His love. "A little leaven, leavens the whole loaf."