Uh-Oh, I Don't Like What the Scripture Says

 

You're reading your Bible and have come across something that makes you go, "What? This must mean something other than what it sounds like." To be fair, that may be true. When we run into such passages, it's a good idea to pray for enlightenment from the Holy Spirit, compare several translations, find the meaning of key Greek or Hebrew words in Strong's concordance, and look at a variety of commentaries and study notes. Online teachings can help, too, but be careful here. Anything they teach should harmonize with the Scripture as a whole, and we need to always be aware that there are people willing and waiting to tell us just what we want to hear about any particular passage. Casting around until we find someone to tickle our ears (2 Timothy 4:3) on the subject isn't the wise way to go. 

Okay, you've done all that and you still don't like a certain difficult or troublesome passage. The first thing to realize is this is normal. Why is it normal? Because until we go to heaven, some aspects of our fleshly nature are still going to be operating. Walking with Jesus and allowing Him to change us into His likeness is a lifelong process. We never reach perfection, in the sense of flawlessness, on this side of eternity. It's what's left of our flesh, even if only scraps, that won't like the pure word of God. So if you don't like something in the Scripture, don't beat yourself up. This is actually useful information. It shows you where you still need to grow and adjust to full truth. The Holy Spirit is merciful and will help. 

Another point to consider is that not liking certain truths may be part of the cost of discipleship. "But people will cancel me if I say..." Friend of the world, are you? James 4:4 says friendship with the world is enmity with God. Jesus said, as recorded in Luke 14, that family, possessions, and life itself cannot come before Him in the disciple's life. So how can something as piddling as our opinions come before Him? In America, we mostly don't pay the cost of discipleship in the form of beheadings, but unless we aren't disciples after all, we do pay it. Maybe, for example, in the form of acknowledging and adhering to Scripture that doesn't please the aspects of ourselves that aren't conformed to Him. 

We can perhaps accept that liking a passage or principle and bowing to it are not the same. For the sake of our Lord, we can do the latter without the former, meanwhile praying to truly receive the former as another way of drawing closer to Him.