Know what you know

1 Corinthians 10:13: "God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it”

Years ago a pastor told me "I don't believe the phrase 'God doesn't give you more than you can handle' I think He DOES give us more than we can handle so that we turn to Him." Now, in theory that sounds really good and really spiritual. But it doesn't line up with God's Word.

And this realization that I made some time after my conversation with the pastor was what set me out on this frenzy of explaining to people why we must all know scripture for our selves so we can separate someone's opinion from what is really said in the Bible. 

I'm not saying you need to have lots of scripture memorized, I'm not even saying you need to know off the top of your head "Oh, that is found in X". Biblegateway.com does wonders in these areas. What I AM saying is you should be familiar enough with the Bible (more than a few random verses) so that when you hear something you can know if it's Truth or opinion or a combination of the two.

As the new year approaches many resolutions will be made, few will be kept. That's just a fact of the American life. My challenge to you is this: set out this year to become more familiar with scripture. If you feel inadequate to carry conversations about concepts taught in the bible then CHANGE that! Study Christianity...especially if it's what you claim as your identity.