I was recently focusing on Scripture in 1 Corinthians, thinking about how the Apostle Paul often wrote believers in order to encourage them — or correct them. I began to wonder, if I were to write a letter to fellow believers today, what in modern times would I warn against and encourage otherwise? There are many, many things I could choose, but the vast amount of misinformation at our fingertips and twisted doctrines in our churches came to mind. It turns out, much of that is something Paul had to tell early Christians too, but the following is a poem that flowed out of the reality of a God based in the truth He gave us, not what we are presented with, taught, or told to believe:

A Letter to Believers Today

Please stop believing everything you read;
not everything is gratifying, or facts you actually need.
Be careful what you’re watching, and who you listen to;
even those with good intentions are not here serving you.
Most people talking want you believing as they do,
and not all those believing are believing what is true.
You cannot live by feelings or a modest Google search –
we must even guard our hearts within the teachings of the church.
Every interpretation has a motive tucked behind it:
if you only look for the answer you want, you will always surely find it.
There must be a basis for understanding, there is only one true way;
when we align our lives with Scripture — not just read it – but obey,
a match will only light depending on how you strike it;
our Biblical beliefs cannot be based on if we “like” it.
Everything you hear must be taken back to Scripture –
as the Lord lays it out in the Body – not the way we each have flipped her.

We live in a culture molded by creating identity,
a society revolving “self” and what’s best for only “me,”
and when the Bible contradicts what is easy and what makes sense,
we’re quick to throw up hands and design our own defense.
The words become as we desire, the teachings as we preach.
The standards drop to levels we are surer we can reach.
But ultimately God is and does, even when a paradox –
we have to decide if we believe when He doesn’t fit in the box.
If God is who He says, it doesn’t matter what we think,
we only get to choose if we believe what’s penned in ink.
And the realities of God will not change whether we believed,
but they also aren’t adjusted by the ways we’ve been deceived.
So when words from modern prophets don’t align with what God wrote,
recall that only one disciple actually stepped out of the boat.

And I recognize that others could return these words to me,
tell us that our beliefs are not founded in reality;
but our basis for all truth can be Biblical in nature.
And not the Bible I’ve produced, but holy nomenclature.
When we stop twisting words and meanings, take it for what it is,
accept that God is sovereign and everything is His,
only then can we begin to process the reality of living:
the treasures of community, of loving, and of giving.
If you take the truth of a loving God, you must include his wrath,
and this will challenge each of us, it is not an easy path.
There is a justice coming, swiftly – but the Lord Your God is waiting;
pick up His book and meditate, stop fighting. Stop debating.
The Bible will not tell you all the words you want to hear.
But God will tell you ultimately, He loves you and He is near.

If that’s a God worth serving, we can lead the lion by the tooth.
Don’t take in what is fed to you: pick up the spoon, and eat the Truth.

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