Default Setting

Recently when I had trouble with my iPhone I reset it to the default settings.  I thought about this as a few of us were discussing community over coffee.  I know I have a tendency towards legalism because of the way I was taught as a child.  One of the men said it is sort of like a default setting on a computer. It sort of made sense to me since that is where I started from on my Christian journey in a legalistic community. You might say my default setting is a legalistic one. It really made sense to me. God requires a heart change, not keeping rules.  A heart change is at the core of being a Christian. Having a heart change is more important than keeping the rules. God wants our hearts. I updated my beliefs as I matured in my relationship, I did change from my default settings. Another thought came to me, as a young man I dreamed of someday being able to find something new in the Bible. I sort of wanted to be the author of a newfound belief. Now I realize that would probably amount to heresy.  One man gave a word picture of pushing the boulder back up to the top of the hill. That is what studying doctrine is like, we search to Bible to keep our doctrine pure and each generation must be pushing on the boulder to push it to the top of the hill. If we find new doctrines we have probably allowed the boulder to roll downhill. That is why we cling to some truths and change others, we are pushing that boulder of doctrine to the top of the hill. At least to me that pushing the boulder to the top of the hill made sense. Each generation must do that. In our current political climate, we hear often of our truth, my truth, your truth. There is one truth written in the Bible that we must search for. That truth is the real truth and supersedes individual truths. In a community, as we discuss these things, we are pushing the boulder back to the top of the hill. Some program updates are required as our understanding of God's word matures. I often say this I didn't know the whole Bible from cover to cover the morning after I became a Christian. I still don't, I am still learning. I have been on my Christian journey for some 36 years now, some just started yesterday. All of us Christians have a changed heart from the start of our journey and that is what gets us into the presence of God. That changed heart, the repentant heart that asks Jesus to come into our heart, forgive us of our sins and lead us into all truth. We begin to trust Jesus to remake us all over into the image of Jesus. It may require many updates from our default setting where we were when we started this journey. In Ephesians, it says with the washing of water by the word. Interpret the Bible by the Bible. There is enough faith given to each man to start this journey by accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord.  I guarantee you will not know it all, but Jesus will lead us into truth when we start a relationship with him. In this dysfunctional messed up world, we need Jesus. The Bible says God made man and woman in his image, male and female, nowhere are there a hundred genders found in the Bible. Man and woman, male and female. We must push that boulder uphill in our confused world that is telling us there are more than two genders.  1This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man^a when they were created. Genesis 5:1-2.   God bless, LVZ.