Where are we? Where are we Going?

Do you know the Bill of Rights? If your anything like me, probably not. Somewhere in the deep recesses of your brain, you may be able to come up with one or two of them, but as far as "knowing" what they say, what they mean, how they apply to our freedom, and the boundaries which they set for the government, you are completely ignorant.

To make matters worse, as I think about the things I do know about the Bill of Rights, I can't say that the ideas, or perceptions I have about them actually were developed from reading or studying them. Most of what I think I know is probably what I absorbed through conversations, casual reading, middle school teaching, even cartoons, over the last 25 years. I am sure that back in elementary school I was required to memorize them, as far as the order they were in, but that doesn't mean that I was taught the value and importance of why I should know them. Just think, in my ignorance, the government could be making decisions right now that are in contradiction to those words, and I would have no idea. Instead, I just assume that those in power are aware of these laws, and that they are always going to line up with what the law states. So, I don't need to waste much time or effort, to compare what is actually happening to what my freedoms are. On top of this, I'm sure that I am not the only one in this country that is in this place.

Ignorance is a breeding ground for subtle unquestioned change that leads to a direct contradiction in thinking that opposes fact.

Want to think of something even scarier? The same thing can happen with our perception, and acceptance of others opinions of the Word of God! If I don't know the truth, don't study it, don't absorb it, don't develop unwavering commitment to it, and instead, take a hazy, passive, and ignorant approach to it, I can very easily be led astray. And what is more is that I can be lead astray without even much realizing it. Here is my fear. WE WERE ALL TAUGHT ABOUT THE BILL OF RIGHTS SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY, whether we liked it or not, we were exposed to something. Today, what is the exposure to the only truth? Where does it come from?

If we don't desire it? If we don't run after it? If we don't believe it? Who makes us?

As a generation and a people are we at a place where we would rather learn our convictions, and truth through a person, television show, or a non-fiction book, than from the Word that was given to us as complete and only truth, the Bible? What is our view of the Bible, is it simply another "book", Is it simply "an option" to me as a Christian! No NO NO! The Bible is it! It is the truth, it is the Word, it is the Answer. Why don't we hold it up with nothing in compare, why don't we devote ourselves to it passionately, and without ceasing?

The answer to life is found in its words, the answer to my struggles, my failures, my future, is all in its pages.

Let's examine what we think the bible is, and what it is says, against WHAT IT IS, and WHAT IT SAYS! How can we do that? By reading, studying, and knowing it!

As much as many of us don't want to hear it, WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR KNOWING GOD'S WORD. JESUS is right there in front of you all the time, He wants you to know him, He wants you find HIM, He wants you to understand......YOU have to take the responsibility to open up the word and grow with Him!

If I have a best friend, and I don't spend any time with him, how on the Earth will I ever know what he is like. I can sit and listen to what everyone else says about him, and listen to the way He has touched them and been a part of their life, and from that I can develop ideas of who He is, but until I start spending my time with him, seeking him, how in the world am I truly going to understand!? What's more, is that if my buddy and I are not hanging out, and I don't know who he is, then someone could come along, and start saying things about him, that are not true. Then what? Im standing there listening to someone making statements that are completely wrong about him, and yet I don't know enough about him to contradict the lies! Instead, I sit there absorbing the lies, and may even find myself believing them!

We have got to know Jesus! If we don't start growing our relationship with him now, then when? The Word is truth, He is right there in front of us, right there, waiting for us to want him. Isn't it about time for us to learn about and stand firm on who Our Savior is, so that we don't have question, we don't have to doubt, we don't have to search the depths of our memory to recall the things others have said about him, but that we know him. We know him, and can stand firm in that, no matter what comes in front of us.