By F. D. Adkins
I remember when my husband and I moved into our first house in Tennessee, a neighbor warned us about the fire ants. Well, I was not sure what fire ants even were, but I never encountered any horrible ants while we lived there. Ironically, when we moved into our neighborhood in South Carolina, a neighbor warned us about the fire ants. Now, I definitely know what fire ants are. I honestly believe our subdivision must have been built on top of one giant fire ant community. These ginormous mounds rise up from the earth over the lawn in giant brown polka dots. My family has learned not to go barefoot into the yard and to step carefully if wearing sandals or flip-flops. I also became aware that gloves were essential when pulling weeds.
On one occasion, in particular, we were outside in the yard putting up a batting cage for our son. My husband had on flip-flops and stepped on the edge of a mound. The next day, the stings were like little blisters. I decided to do a quick search on the internet to see if there was anything that would make them heal faster and stop itching. After typing in “what to do if stung by fire ants,” I remember the disbelief I felt when I saw the instructions that popped up. The first step said to move away from the mound. I could not help but laugh because I could not fathom the need to be told to move away from a mound of stinging ants.
However, lately, I have been thinking about priorities and how quickly the day gets away when you have so many things to accomplish. The end of the day arrives, the list barely has a dent in it, and while I feel like I have run a race, I do not feel like I have run the race that God intended.
And then, as I take in this new norm in our society that embraces what God clearly defines as sin, I think to myself maybe we do need to be told to move away from the mound. Hebrews 12:1 says, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” These weights, or in my example, mounds of stinging fire ants, is anything that keeps us from accomplishing what God has set for us or anything that separates us from a relationship with God.
So, today I stop and take a look at my list asking myself which items are mounds of stinging ants that are taking up the time I should be focused on doing a few things that have been pulling at my heart like making that phone call to someone that God has put on my mind or doing that Bible study with a podcast on the book of Revelation. If I look at the “great cloud of witnesses” listed in Hebrews 11, these people followed God’s path and acted in faith. Would Noah have ever finished the ark in time if he put mopping the floor and dusting the furniture first on the list every day?
“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Revelation 4:11 KJV
I was created for God’s purpose, not the items on “my” list. That being said, I have to think of James 4:17 that says, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” While the items on my list may not be bad, if I know God is speaking to me to do something else, and I am not prioritizing God’s command, I need to step away from the mound of disorder on my list and do what God is calling me to do.
However, as I continue my Bible study on this, I think these mounds can also be what we as Christians are tolerating in our society and even acknowledging as perfectly acceptable. According to God’s Word, we cannot live in the middle. We cannot call ourselves born again in Christ and live by our own set of rules. The Bible says If we are not with Him, we are against Him. Living in the middle literally makes God sick.
- “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Revelation 3:15-16 KJV
- “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” Matthew 12:30 KJV
We know the Bible is God’s Word. It is absolute Truth.
- “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 KJV
- “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Revelation 22:18-19 KJV
The Bible is inspired by God, and we are not to add or take away from any part of it.
As I researched this topic, I came across an article from 2016 that examines a survey done on the beliefs of Americans as to whether morals are absolute or relative. According to Barna in their article “The End of Absolutes: America’s New Moral Code,” eighty percent of Americans worry about the moral condition of our country. However, what I found upsetting, is this article in Barna goes on to report that forty-one percent of “practicing Christians”…“agree or somewhat agree” with the belief “that the only truth one can know is whatever is right for one’s own life” (“The End of Absolutes”). How can this many Christians not proclaim the Bible as absolute Truth?
- “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” 2 Timothy 3:1-5 KJV.
The Bible clearly defines sin in 1 John 3:4, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” The Bible also says that if we are born again, we will sin no more. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” 1 John 3:6 KJV. This does not mean that we will not stumble or make mistakes. It means intentional sin. Think of it this way. If we call ourselves Christians yet knowingly do what the Bible says is wrong, what was the purpose in Jesus dying for us? If He loved us enough to die in our place, WHY would we not want to live completely for Him? Why would we take His sacrifice for granted?
The above verses from Timothy warn us that perilous times will come. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 tells of the coming deception as it says, “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” (KJV). We have to study God’s Word and arm ourselves with the absolute Truth so we will not be deceived.
So… to sum up my study:
- The Bible says we need to get rid of weights that keep us from accomplishing His will for us. (Step away from the mound).
- The Bible is the Word of God and is absolute Truth.
- We cannot add to or take away from the Bible to fit our desires.
- If we are born again, we no longer knowingly commit sin.
- We must study God’s Word so we know what God says is right and wrong. If we know the Truth, we cannot be deceived.
“A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.”
Theodore Roosevelt
(Brainy Quote)
Sources:
“The End of Absolutes: America’s New Moral Code.” Barna, 25 May 2016, www.barna.com/research/the-end-of-absolutes-americas-new-moral-code/.
Roosevelt, Theodore. “A thorough knowledge…” Brainy Quote, www.brainyquote.com/quotes/theodore_roosevelt_147900. Accessed 14 Sept 2021.
