February 15, 2016

II Corinthians 4:2  Instead, we reject secrecy and shameful actions.  We don't use deception, and we don't tamper with God's word.

When I first read this Scripture I could not understand why secrecy, shameful actions, and deception were juxtaposed with tampering with God's word.  It took me some real meditating on this passage to get it. As I was thinking about the word "tampering,"  I tried to put it in some other context, one I was familiar with,  and came up with the phrase "tampering with one's brakes."  We have all seen movies in which the villain decides to tamper with the hero's car.  The intent every time is to either destroy the person or at the very least cause him to wreck.  

Boy, when you think about this in the light of - tampering with God's word, I suddenly get the picture.  I really think that in order to increase the attendance of the congregation, or in an effort to be popular there are those who tamper with God's word.  I think the intent is different from my example of the car brakes, but the wreck and destruction will still be the outcome.

God's word is exactly as it should be.  It doesn't say one thing too much or leave anything out that should be there.  In addition to tampering with the message, the same injustice is done when parts of God's word is omitted.

If I really want to be convicted as I look at this Scripture, I can think of it as putting oneself in God's place when he meddles with the word.  Ouch!  We need to be very careful as we approach God's word.  We need to do it prayerfully and never read into it more or less than it actually says.  A great rule of thumb is - always let Scripture interpret Scripture.