"My Lord and My God" John 20:28

A disturbing trend has continuously popped up in my viewing material. Whether it be in book form, on YouTube or in a blog, I keep seeing the evangelical world making references to God in a less than reverent tone. Does this bother anyone else?


I've received some constructive criticism that I keep getting sidetracked with other things besides what the original intent of this blog was supposed to be which was a blog about how to become a better Titus woman. I agree...to a point. My mind works that way. Sidetracks, rabbit trails and the like are the many paths from my mind. Some call it A.D.D., I call it thoroughly thinking something through--po-TAY-toe, po-TAH-toe. I think we can all agree that it makes it somewhat hard to have a conversation with me, but that's just one of the high prices many of you pay for a Kimmie friendship. :)


Disturbing trends don't normally disturb me. I know that trends and fancies come and go like the wind and things like that don't last--only the word of God does. I always consider myself protected in a theological bubble of sound doctrine, so typically, I remain unconcerned with fashionable Christianity. But this has crept a little too close to home. I feel as if some of this irreverent tone is pressing against my nicely pumped bubble and now me thinks me must protest.


When I started this blog, I did intend to hit topics on specific women's issues. As of late, I have had the pleasurable opportunity of researching some of the finest verses in scripture that specifically relate to women. But as we are being challenged in ladies bible study, we cannot accurately carry out our service as women (or men) in Christ if we do not have a right understanding or precise view of the God of the bible. I see and hear, more and more, people cutting and pasting their bibles. They are cutting out the authority of God and pasting over those verses with the love of God. Now, before I have my own mini-mutiny on my hands (which would make me the Captain--and that's downright scary), I must sing, shout and proclaim the endless and immeasurable love of God. The love of God has been showered and lavished on this wretched sinner and has resulted in exceedingly abundant joy in all circumstances (II Corinthians 7:4).


Nonetheless, I must protest that much of the evangelical world has now unevenly balanced love and holiness when it comes to the attributes of God and, because of this, many evangelicals are preaching a less than balanced view. God's holiness and love are evenly matched, you can't have one without the other. And most definitely, you can't have less of one and more of the other.


I'm not sure who started it, but I wish you'd quit it...whoever you are. (Of course, we know who the father of it is.) If you disproportionately spread a gospel that unevenly explains the attributes or characteristics of God, you make Him one of us. None of us are evenly balanced, in character or attributes. All of us, because of willful and natural depravity and curse, are all out of whack. Making God into one of us, is easier than one thinks.


Legalism is one of the great ways we can do this. Legalism requires that we favor certain sides of His attributes, but other attributes are less important in our eyes. We pick and choose which attributes we like, establish a set of nicely worded rules and we govern life, choices and people by those rules. We all have these tendencies. None of us likes to admit it. Legalism is such a dirty word that even the very fundamental of fundamentalists don't call it legalism. I've never heard of any professing christian announce, "I praise God I'm a legalist." So how do we spot it? Anything that binds people to our consciences and not to the word of God is legalism. We love to do it, because we'd love for the world to act and function according to our set of nicely worded rules. We do it because we love a works-based religion more than a grace-based religion. Overall, doesn't it make life easier for me, me, me? One problem is that not only is unbiblical, but it is condemned...and the worst of legalism is purporting tradition (or nicely worded rules practiced for a very long time) as revelation from God. (Mark 7:6-8) But think about the last thought that you had or conversation with someone, that doesn't quite think like you do, do the things the way you do them, or act in how you thought they should act, especially in your church. Was it distasteful to you? Did you cringe? Worse yet, did you try and sway them to "your side", using the bible out of context as your main source of evidence? That, my sister, is legalism and its beat is a low view of God's authority in, through and commanding all things as His. Whether you like it or not, all legalism is grounded and rooted in some form of an unevenly balanced god.

So let's get back to the disturbing trend. How do we fix this when God is every good and perfectly balanced attribute and characteristic and because of our unbalanced nature, we unevenly function in our mortal state? I think there has to be a starting point. Just like ships who are lost at sea, there has to be a lighthouse to which every lost ship, when too far from shore, can be guided back to their originating position.

I believe the lighthouse for genuine believers is authority. Authority is the lighthouse that will guide you back to shore when the murky and stormy waters of depravity have lead you beyond the safe shores of a disciple of Christ.

Did you realize that the word "Lord" is used over 6,000 times in the bible, but the word "Savior" is used about 50 times? That is a mind blowing stat that cannot be overlooked.

So what do we do? We gather the troops and fight this ridiculous trend of an unevenly balanced God with our own brand of fighting--using the sword of the Spirit, God's word.

So now, I have unzipped my bubble (and oh! how warm and cozy it is) and am coming out to proclaim that not only is the God of the bible a loving God, but He is a holy God, full of wrath and vengeance, hating iniquity and sin.

And what do I look for when I'm out to sea and my tiny ship is being tossed about by the various heresies of the postmodern world? My trusty lighthouse--authority.

Genesis 1:1
Psalm 24:1
Matthew 28:18
Mark 1:22, 27
John 17:2

I have a concern for those who are living close to my theo-bubble who are willingly being led away from the authority lighthouse and will end up in a Titanic wreckage of doctrineless teaching or even worse, end up as those in Matthew 7:22.