Welcome
Hello Ladies. I have been meditating recently on the thought that
are dreams are too small. Often, when we pray to God we expect Him
to answer our prayer. Yet, often we don’t pray for him to
do the wildly unexpected; a God size answer to our prayer. I’m
not talking about praying for a million dollars. What I’m
talking about is God stretching you to do things that you can only
do in His strength alone. When people hear about your experience
they will know it had to be done by God. When we read the Bible
God answered prayers in a big way and often in ways no one could
fathom. So, allow God to use you for His glory in really big ways.
Article – Popular Wrong Quotes Attributed to the
Bible
This month I wanted to share with you some popular quotes that
people say are in the Bible, but are not. It is vital that we
quote the Bible correctly and also we point out error when it
is spoken. You might be surprised to find some of these quotes
are not in the Bible. Let’s get started:
1. Christian Moms are not to work outside the home. (Not surprised
I started with that one are you?). There is no scripture saying
women cannot work outside the home. For a full article on this
subject, click on this link: http://kimberlychastain.com/articles/biblesay.htm.
2. God helps those who help themselves. This also goes under the
idea of pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. If anything the
Bible teaches the exact opposite. We are to deny ourselves and
be totally dependent on God. God doesn’t need our “help”
in order to work things out for us. Romans 5:6, “You see,
at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died
for the ungodly.” Another word for powerless could be helpless.
We depend on God for the very air we breathe. How can we even
imagine we can help God? In 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 there is a
verse that states if a man will not work he will not eat. So,
yes we are to work for food. On the other hand, God is not waiting
for us to help ourselves before he helps us. There is not a litmus
test.
3. God won’t put anymore on you than you can handle. This
is the one quote that makes me most angry for the pain it causes.
People will say God must think I can handle a lot that is why
I have cancer, etc. There is no verse at all in the Bible that
supports this statement. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation
has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful;
he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when
you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you stand
up under it.” This verse is clearly about temptation not
about life’s trials. Also, there is a little bit of pride
in this quote. I must be a “super” Christian for God
to put me through this trial. This thinking couldn’t be
farther from the truth.
4. Money is the root of all evil. Yes, money can cause us problems
especially if we make it our idol. The actual verse says, “For
the LOVE of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people,
eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves
with many griefs.”1 Timothy 6:10. Having a lot of money
is not wrong. What is wrong is how we choose to spend our money
and if making money is more important than our relationship with
God.
5. Cleanliness is next to Godliness. In Leviticus there were many
laws written about how to prepare food and other regulations.
God, in His wisdom, designed all those laws to keep His people
safe and from getting sick. They didn’t exactly have meat
thermometers in the Bible days. So, there is a reason someone
would get that idea. For the record, messy houses do not equate
with ungodliness. Thank God!!
Most of these inaccurate quotes and more have something in common.
Often these wrong quotes focus on our abilities and how we can control
situations if we just do the right thing. The hard lesson all of
us as Christians have to learn is total dependence on God. We have
to get to the end of ourselves. We don’t want to admit it,
but we may think if I do this for God then He will do something
for me. We couldn’t be more wrong. We can’t out give
God or outperform God. He gave us the greatest gift we could ever
receive His Son, Jesus Christ, paying the penalty for our sin. If
we didn’t receive anything else from God that would be more
than enough. We will be truly happy as Christians when we learn
to deny ourselves and depend on God. God wants us to look to Him.
He is our loving Father.
I would love to hear inaccurate quotes you have heard people attributed
to the Bible. Please share them on our blog: http://christianworkingmoms.blogspot.com.
Final Thoughts
A 90 year old lady was once asked why she was still studying her
Bible. Her reply was she was studying for her final exam. We can
always learn more from God’s Word. We need to study the Bible
so we can refute error when we hear it, like some of the quotes
from above.
Till next time,
Kimberly M. Chastain
Kimberly M. Chastain, MS, LMFT is the Christian Working
Mom Coach and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She is the
author of The Voices of Christian Working Moms, 2 ebooks and an
online Bible study. To find out how to receive coaching tips by
email daily, go to http://www.kimberlychastain.com/cwmtips.htm.
To find out more about her books go to www.christianworkingmom.com.
For a free, initial coaching session send an email to free@kimberlychastain.com.
