"I Don't Understand It"

"He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 1 John 5:12

I hear so many people say that the Bible is hard to understand. Perhaps there is a small amount of validity to that because the words of the Bible are spirit and life. Being spirit they are not discerned by the natural man. But I also think people use this as an excuse when it comes to reading and applying the Bible to their lives.

Its words aren't that hard to understand. They can't be because Jesus said that we have to become like children to enter into the kingdom of heaven- children understand the "plain and simple". Since God's word is part of it, it has to be "basic" enough for a child to understand it. For example, what is so hard to understand about the verse above. It seems pretty "cut and dry", "black and white". It tells us that if we have the Son we have life, if we don't have the Son we don't have life. What is hard to understand when it says, "Do not steal, do not commit adultery"? How hard is it to comprehend when it says,"If you say you love God and hate your brother you are a liar"? Or what about, "Don't let the sun go down on your wrath; ask and receive; treat others the way you would want them to treat you; if your enemy is hungry feed him"?

The problem doesn't always lie with the "understanding" of what God's word says, it problem lies with the "doing" of what it says. Understanding that it says not to take revenge is pretty clear, but the ability to practice it may be harder when you have been done wrong. That is where our dependency on God comes in. We need His strength and grace to help us apply the teachings that we do understand.

We don't need to make excuses for not obeying the word of God by saying that we don't understand it. It is understandable and what we don't understand, God will help us to understand if we ask.

Have a great day. God's word is not hard to understand, but doing it is often what's hard.

For further reading:
Romans 12:20
Matthew 18:3
1 Corinthians 2:14
John 6:63