3 Bible Verses You Probably DON'T Like (But Should)
Have you ever noticed that humans are kind of control freaks? Well, because of that, the following 3 Bible verses are ones many people don't like. Why? Because they make it abundantly clear that we're not the boss -- God is. But read on to see just what makes these verses so special!
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3 Verses You Probably Don’t Like — Here’s Why
By Rachel Dawson
If you’ve been a Christian or even just a church-goer for any period of time, you probably all have a favorite Bible verse. It’s probably one that is encouraging or inspiring, full of rich words that make you feel good and ready to take on the day ahead. Those verses are great and we all like them, the John 3:16s and blessings from Paul in the New Testament, but what about those verses we really don’t like?
Aaron Armstrong shared three Bible passages you don’t want to admit you don’t like (but kind of do) and they all have something in common: they boldly declare truth.
You might not like Old Testament verses about death and battles, or you might not like the ten commandments, or you might not agree with the verses about marriage and divorce, but these are verses Armstrong says cut far deeper.
3 Verses You Probably Don't Like
- “But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13)
- “I give them eternal life,and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:28)
- “There is no one who can hold back His hand or say to Him, “What have You done?” (Daniel 4:35)
Do you see the common theme here? These verses make it clear-- we are not the boss here. God is the true King, Father, Ruler, and Lord of all.
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“They confront us with the cold, hard truth that we are not in control,” Armstrong shares. “And we are all, by nature, control freaks. We want to be the masters of our own destiny. We want to be answerable to no one. We don’t want anyone trying to tell us what we can and cannot do (unless it’s us telling someone else).”
It goes against the American mindset that we can accomplish anything we put our minds to, that we can achieve great success on our own, or that we can have it all-- the career, the nice house, the family, the loaded bank account, the fancy car, and the list goes on. These verse are a reality check for us, and it isn’t always a comfortable one.
Reality Check
The thing about reality checks, though, is that they are necessary. It’s not healthy for us to go through life with an inflated sense of self, riddled with pride, or guided by our egos.
Felicia Alvarez, a Crosswalk.com contributing writer, calls pride our worst enemy. She shares four ways to keep pride from winning: choose to remember who you are, (Romans 7:24); realize what Christ did for you (Ephesians 2:4-9); choose to thank God for what He did (Colossians 2:6-7, ESV); and choose to hide His Word in your heart.
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We might not put these verses on our bathroom mirrors or read them on our coffee mugs as often, but these are verses that give us a healthy, needed perspective on who we are and who God is. It’s only when we realize we aren’t in control of our own destinies and lives that we can surrender them to the God who has created us and set the paths before us to be greater than we could dare or imagine.
Take some time to dwell on these verses today. They might not have been your favorite ones before, but let the Lord use them to open your eyes and your heart to a deeper truth and a closer relationship with Him.
What other verses help you remember who God is? We would love to hear in the comments!
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