Job CCLXV

 It takes humility to acknowledge how little we know, and for Bildad, humility was in short supply. Only God can rightfully claim the title of omniscient. All others may claim full knowledge of their particular field, or a topic they’ve studied and researched ad nauseam, but as far as omniscience goes, it’s defined as all knowing, or knowing everything about everything. It’s not guessing, assuming, gauging probabilities, or calculating the odds; it’s full and complete knowledge of all things, whether hidden, secret, or out in the open.

Bildad and his friends were big on assumptions, correlations, and by all accounts worshiped at the altar of causality with such rigidity as to make a monk seem flighty and erratic. To them, the simplest explanation was always the right one, but what made it worse was that no other reason for Job’s suffering would be entertained or considered.

The sad reality is that Bildad was not the exception to the rule. We, each, in our own way, adopt this mindset whether frequently or infrequently, and conclude that if something hasn’t happened to us personally, if we’ve not experienced something ourselves, then it can’t be true for anyone else, no matter how different our circumstances or situations.

Whether the issue is prophecy, dreams, visions, or the gifts of the Holy Spirit, they are dismissed by a large swath of the contemporary church for the simple fact that they’ve never experienced them themselves. It’s like saying that just because I never jumped out of an airplane, anyone who insists they have must be lying.

When you insist that they, too, can have the same experience, that it’s not secret or hidden, and a drive to their closest small airport will likely give them all the proof they need, they will deflect, citing time constraints, a busy life, or some other arbitrary reason for not getting to the truth of the matter for themselves.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are no longer acquirable!

Have you asked God? Have you gone before Him and sincerely desired the spiritual gifts of which Paul speaks?

No, why should I? They aren’t available, so why should I waste my time?

But who said they’re no longer among us?

My denomination, of course, and our doctrine of covenants are sacrosanct.

That’s usually the way the conversation goes, and it’s no less myopic than Bildad’s stance that righteousness cannot be attained by anyone born of a woman, even though God Himself may have declared him as such.

Make sure the hill you’re willing to die on is a hill worth dying on. Make sure the person, institution, or doctrine you’re defending is one worth defending. Men and women throughout history have gone to their deaths with praise on their lips, not for some arbitrary, tertiary issue concerning some vague interpretation of a verse conveniently taken out of context, but for the sake of Christ Jesus their Lord.

It’s not only off-putting but downright suspect when anyone chooses to defend a theological position with more fervor, passion, and determination than they would the lordship of Christ.

What about Jesus? We’ll get to Jesus eventually, but first, you have to agree with me on this one issue, whether that issue happens to be the timing of the Lord’s return or that a particular denomination is superior to another.

We get so wrapped up in the minutiae that have nothing to do with salvation, regeneration, sanctification, or rebirth that, at some point, it becomes our de facto identity. We are no longer bondservants of Christ or followers of the Way, but Baptists, Pentecostals, Lutherans, Methodists, pre-tribbers, and post-tribbers. We insulate ourselves to the point of existing in an echo chamber, where everyone we come in contact with agrees with us on that one issue, never once concerning ourselves with whether or not they are serving and following Christ. They must be pure of heart and righteous beyond measure; they agree with me on my pet doctrine after all.

It’s one of the reasons so many wolves stand behind pulpits victimizing the sheep today. We are more concerned with whether they graduated from the right seminary than we are with whether they are above reproach. We are more concerned with how they dress and how much gel they use in their hair than with whether the Spirit of God resides in them and the words they speak are spoken in power.

We focus on the superficial, the irrelevant, the tertiary and secondary issues, while ignoring the things that matter because were we to hold our leaders to a biblical standard, we too would be called upon to live up to the same.

Bildad could not allow for the possibility of a man being righteous before God, because if he did, it would mean it was attainable, and something he knew himself not to be.

God doesn’t do that anymore, not because He can’t, not because He’s changed, but because He’s not doing it through me, and if He’s not doing it through me, He can’t be doing it through anyone, anywhere, at any time.

That type of self-importance is galling, but it also goes a long way into revealing how such individuals view themselves compared to their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s never said outright, but always implied, that they are by far the most righteous people they know, and if they have not experienced the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, then what hope do the rest of us have? It’s in God’s best interest to pick the best, and if He hasn’t picked me, He likely hasn’t picked anyone.

Luke 18:10-14, “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men – extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.