editing history


So many professing Christians get up in arms over the re-writing of American history, yet we ignore obvious revisions of Biblical history. Or omissions.  (Or maybe we only go to church on Sunday and leave the Bible on the night stand the rest of the week.  Yeah, I'm guilty of that.)

Why is it that our Biblical heroes are often portrayed only as godly, god-fearing, etc?  Their deep flaws are often skipped over in order to coerce us into following some kind of false gospel where our salvation seems to be based on our works almost as much as it is on faith in Christ.

Every once in a while, we MIGHT catch a glimpse of their weaknesses in a sermon or two.  David and Bathsheba is often retold.  Maybe I just wasn't listening the first time I  was told how David ran from Saul into "refuge" under an enemy king, and in the process of saving his own skin, he became a traitor to his people, killing women and children to make the bad dude respect him.  (see I Samuel 27:1-28:2) Yeah, I missed that.  Until last Sunday.  It turns out that David's not-so-little affair was not his first wicked act.  Who knew? Could it be that the hard truths of that passage were skipped over because they did not serve a teacher's purpose? Ouch!  Or maybe my mind just blocked them out.

The good news is not that David was a man after God's own heart so he could get away with doing whatever he wanted.  Somewhere along the road, he repented and sought God.  And God used Him in a mighty way.  God was faithful, period.  And He loved David.  Not because of what his child did or did not do, but because he was His child.

So, if God loved David so much that he used Him anyway, shouldn't we, out of gratefulness for his mercy in our own lives, extend forgiveness to those who "don't deserve it?"

Just mulling things over, in hope that God will help me listen to His heart instead of my own.