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You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. —Matthew 22:29

A compass is a great guide… if you are reading it correctly. This summer we set up a compass course for some teens. Overall they did really well, but there was a moment when one of the teams was not reading the compass correctly and they were actually going in the opposite direction from what was intended. They had gone some distance before they realized their mistake and had to back-track to end up at the correct destination.

So many people wind up with the wrong conclusions because they do not know God’s Word or His power. How many times have we heard someone take a verse or passage and lift it out of context and interpret it through their lens of experience or their bias? Instead of understanding it properly they are like the teens mentioned above. Instead of reading a compass incorrectly though, they are reading God’s Word incorrectly and ending up at a destination of understanding that is faulty. This happens so often by misunderstanding or by deliberate skewing of the truth.

“Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them” (Proverbs 13:24). This verse has been in the news lately and used by many as to the why an NFL player abused his child. Again, it is the ignorance of many who would say this verse talks about child abuse. It is talking about discipline and anyone who knows what discipline is knows that it is guiding a person to do the correct thing. It is not talking about abuse…

I find it interesting that those same people who are against child abuse, and rightly so, are among the many that support the worst child abuse ever— abortion. Why is it wrong, and rightly so, to abuse a child and OK to slaughter the smallest among us while they are still in the womb? This is hypocrisy at its highest level.

Many are reading the compass of God’s Word incorrectly and come up with bogus interpretations, leading them in the wrong direction. Jesus clearly said, “If anyone causes one of these little ones–those who believe in me–to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matthew 18:6). Many have wrong views of God as Father because they have had poor father figures and then they project those poor examples onto their view of God as Father. In Ephesians 6:4 fathers are told to “not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Also in First Thessalonians 2:11-12 we read “For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.” Abuse of a child outside of the womb or inside the womb is deeply despised by Almighty God and those who do such things will be held accountable to Him in due time.

Dear Father, may we read the compass of Your Word correctly and not just regurgitate what someone else has told us or some idea we have read. No, may we look to Your overall teaching in Your Word to have the right compass setting, reading Your Word rightly and ending up at the destination of correct understanding. May it be so in the authority of our Lord Jesus and in the power of Your Holy Spirit.