Forgetfulness

 I am not sure the exact reason - the onset of age or chemotherapy - but I am losing my mind.  This past weekend I lost my air pods.  I searched everywhere.  I did eventually find them but I still felt a little crazy.  I am also forgetting things other than household items.  I am forgetting things on my to-do list.  Missing small details.  Missing some medium details.  I could not remember a name during a meeting that I know I know.  All of this is frustrating.  But it is a reminder to me of my frailty.  

It also helps me think on a God who does not forget.  He knows and remembers me.  And He cares.  And this to me is astounding.  His realm of dominion is huge, mine is small, and I cannot keep charge of my small little realm.  And to think that God not only manages, but perfectly brings about all things to His intended goal without fail is an amazing thought.  We serve an amazing God!

The importance of Scripture

 Sometimes I think that we forget that the Scriptures are infallible, inerrant and authoritative but our understanding of the Scriptures is not.  If we assume that we understand Scriptures correctly in things that the Scripture is not clear on we will be in danger of making something authoritative that is just simply our opinion and not actually the Word of God.  Worse yet, we sometimes try to make our opinion the standard by which others are bound because we have mis-equated the Word of God for our words about the Word of God.  

We must caution ourselves against this with at least three cautions.

    1. The caution of humility.  - We must always approach God's Word humbly.

    2. The caution of study - We must always study hard and allow God's Word to speak for itself, not proof-text our way through the Bible.

    3. The caution of community - our interpretation should not stand alone against the history of biblical interpretation or even in the midst of our own contemporary community.  If you think it means something that no one else thinks it means you should probably be overly cautious and study extra hard!