The Relevance of God's Word

Since God is the unchanging Creator of all people created in His own image, His eternal word is always relevant.  It is a silly exercise to "try" to be relevant when God alone has the words of life.  We do not need to spruik the relevance of water, food and oxygen because our bodies demand them.  The Bible isn't worth listening to because it is "cool" or "sick" or the popular choice:  it alone provides the spiritual and practical guidance for living now and for eternity, reveals God and His perfect will, instructs us with parables, sustains us with promises, amazes us with prophecy and guides our every step with God's wisdom.

There is nothing wrong with a polished presentation, examples that engage hearers or the use of technology to better connect with seekers.  We go through the effort of preaching, teaching and studying God's word because we know it is relevant to our lives without needing to dress it up in fashionable phrases or with a sales pitch to appeal to unbelieving ears.  This has no credibility, like an older person who tries to fit in with a younger crowd by using current or hip slang in all the wrong ways.  An older person has much to offer a younger person by simply being themselves and sharing wisdom and knowledge they have received by God's grace through their experiences.  I did not love my parents because they were fashionable, artistic or "rad:"  I loved them because they were my parents who loved me first.

I understand the draw to shake up our thoughts about Jesus cobbled together from messages we have heard, pictures we have seen, mistaken assumptions or ignorance.  There is great value in prompting a careful examination to discover what is actually true about God and go beyond traditional caricatures.  Yet this is only valuable as long as we are grounded in the truth of the Bible, an ancient book inspired by the living God who has put it above His own name (Psalm 138:2).  Left to himself man's ideas about God are all wrong, and we also have a tendency towards idolatry--making gods to suit ourselves.  God has given humans the capacity to appreciate and describe a range of flavours in foods, and it will not do to make sweet what God has made bitter.

Following God is a walk of faith.  It is of no value to attempt to smuggle a little Gospel truth masked in morality into a discourse because God's word must be willingly received by a reader or listener to benefit.  It is a common practice to mask a tablet or medicine for a pet by smothering it in a treat they enjoy to trick them into eating it.  Not so with the word of God!  There are difficult sayings in the Bible because it is a revelation of God beyond our full comprehension; there are hard doctrines because our flesh balks and resists submission to the LORD.  As a patient must fill out forms, have a consultation, pay a fee, show up on the day and yield to the scalpel of the surgeon to remove the cancer or repair a torn ligament, so we must step by step yield before God and His word to receive it as timeless truth relevant to our lives today.

To an unbeliever the Bible may seem foolishness, but to those who are born again and filled with the Holy Spirit they are truly the words of life.  God uniquely gives spiritual insight to believers which is most practical, for our hearts and eyes are opened to the relevance and refreshment of God's word for us today and always.  It does more than merely entertain us but enlightens us to our needs we never knew we had and the glorious God who meets them all by His grace.