Changed by the Word

Like any other serious Bible-believing person, I say that I want Scripture to be my guide. I like to think that if Scripture says something that will settle the matter for me. However, a recent discussion in my small group brought the shallowness of my conviction to light.

We are going through J.I. Packer's tremendous book Knowing God. One of the chapters deals with the second commandment and the danger of making an image of anything in heaven. I wasn't there for the discussion, but I think the general tone was that Packer took his argument too far. Packer maintains that we shouldn't have images of Jesus, angels, etc.

Frankly, I had a hard time when I read that chapter too. However, it is difficult to argue with his logic as he reasons from Scripture. This is where the rubber meets the road. He is going up against a lot of contemporary Christian culture with this argument. We tend not to think of it as too big of a deal. However, the fact that it made the "big ten" tells us that God takes it seriously (I don't think Penn State will get added to that big ten).

I realize now what I'm looking for in a Bible study. I want something that will just maybe tweak me a little bit, but I don't want any massive spiritual surgery done on me. It's easy for me to look down my nose at others who don't want any drastic change done on them too. This is especially true when they don't want to hear about a doctrine that I hold dear to my heart. Yet I realize that I am just as hard-hearted in areas as well.