Misinformation, Information, or Transformation?

It’s often said the Bible is the best-selling, least-read book ever written. That seems to be true, based on comments and perspectives we hear about the Bible on TV, radio, newspapers and magazines, the Internet, social media, casual conversation – and even some of our churches.

World sales of the Bible exceed 100 million copies each year, with revenue from sales in the United States alone ranging between $425 million and $650 million annually. Yet the average person knows surprisingly little about what’s between the front and back covers. For instance, “God helps those that help themselves” and “cleanliness is next to godliness” aren't found in any Bible.

There are those who seem to have learned much of what they know about the Scriptures from the books of 2 Opinions or 3 Speculations. They preface comments about God and the Bible with, “Well, I think….” It’s fine to know what people think, and everyone’s entitled to their own points of view. But have they ever truly looked to see what the Bible actually says? Without seriously doing so, all we have to work with is misinformation.

Others are quick to cite specific passages that serve to reinforce a point they want to make. For instance, they point out Jesus commanded us to “love your neighbor as yourself,” but forget (or ignore) that He first said we’re to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:36-39, Mark 12:30-31, Luke 10:27). Because we can’t really do our best at loving our neighbors without first loving God as we should.

Pulling passages selectively from the Bible provides us with useful information, but without studying them in proper context and considering what some would term, “the whole counsel of God,” that’s all it is – information.

Over my years of reading, studying and meditating on the Scriptures, I’ve learned their intent is definitely not for misinformation. Nor did God provide them merely for information. His goal for us is simple: Transformation.

This time of year we celebrate the renewal of life – flowers growing, bees buzzing, and before too long, butterflies flitting about. But the thing about butterflies is there’s an important step required for them to become such delicate, colorful, graceful creatures. They must first exist in life as caterpillars.

The cartoon I’ve posted cleverly makes this point. How a fuzzy, slow-moving caterpillar builds and then resides in its cocoon until the time is right for it to work its way out, emerging as a lovely butterfly is one of nature’s (God’s) wonders. But what’s the link between the Bible and butterflies? They both involve transformation.

When Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:3, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again,” He wasn’t talking about attitude adjustment, but transformation. For emphasis Jesus repeated a few verses later, "You must be born again" (John 3:7) Another passage elaborates: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Out with the old; in with the new.

Picture a butterfly emerging from the cocoon. It bears little resemblance to its former self. This serves as a physical metaphor for spiritual transformation. As we mature in our faith in Jesus Christ, the persons we once were should seem less and less like the people we’re becoming. Our former selves should be more and more like an old photo, bearing little likeness to what God is reshaping us to be.

So in reading the Bible, I’m wary of misinformation. I appreciate the information I receive, but don’t want to stop there. What I’m after is transformation. That’s what God is after for all of us.

Struggle Today, Strength Tomorrow

From time to time we read about machines that can enable us to lop off pounds simply by standing on them as they shake us all about. Kind of like doing the hokey-pokey, but with even less effort.

Fad diets promise to make us svelte within days, cancelling out months and even years of bad eating habits and poor lifestyle practices. “Take these pills.” “Eat this menu.” “Try this regimen for just five days.” This, we’re promised, will free us of inches and pounds without so much as breaking a sweat.

Sounds great, especially at this time of year when temptations of lavish holiday meals, seasonal treats, Christmas cookies and other high-taste, high-calorie offerings bombard our senses through New Year’s Day. I know this all too well – my body still hasn’t recovered from last year’s onslaught of Thanksgiving Day, a trip to Walt Disney World, and Christmas, and already another year-end round of festivities has arrived. Laying waste to your waistline isn’t a good thing!

Recently a sign caught my eye that fits all of us hoping to survive the holidays without turning into human replicas of the famed Goodyear blimp. It might bolster our determination when we try to return to sane eating within the next few weeks. It said, “Struggle Today, Strength Tomorrow.”

The problem is most of us seem allergic to struggle. We like shortcuts, pain-free living, anything but struggle and strain. We hate the adage, “No pain, no gain.” Instead, we want the gain without the pain. Easy does it – the easier the better. Overindulge? Sure. Overwork? No way.

But in reality, what the sign stated is true. Struggle today often does lead to strength tomorrow. Take, for example, the little caterpillar struggling to fashion a protective cocoon, then at the right time working and straining to get out of it, transforming into a beautiful butterfly through this wondrous, strenuous process.

After open-heart surgery in 2006, I resolved to go through the recommended rehab program, which included healthier eating, taking prescribed medications, and embarking in a regular exercise regimen several times a week. Nine years later I’m still taking my meds faithfully and exercising 5-6 times a week. I’ve slipped a bit on the eating part, but aim to get back on track there, too. The point is, it hasn’t been easy. Every day I go to the rehab center thinking, “I hate to exercise.” But at the end of the session, I honestly love to have exercised. And my overall physical health has benefited. The struggle indeed has resulted in strength.

Apparently this is why we’re often reminded in the Scriptures not to underestimate the value of the struggle. The apostle Paul, no stranger to adversity of many kinds, wrote, “we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:3-5).

In case we missed it the first time, another apostle – James – revisits this idea in his letter. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4).

Many of us long to possess strong, overcoming faith. These passages tell us that without it being tested by the fires of struggle, our faith will never exhibit the strength we would desire. Because faith, being “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1), becomes confirmed only when struggles give us no alternative other than to exercise it. And sometimes over a long, arduous period of time.

So I think it’s right to say, no pain – no gain. No struggle – no strength.