![]() Later, because we read that Nick at Night (as my husband refers to him) came with Joseph of Arimathea to collect the body of Jesus and dress His wounds and lay Him in a tomb, we can infer that Nicodemus became a follower of Jesus ( John 19:39). ![]() Jesus was gentle as He opened Nicodemus’ eyes to the truth ( John 3:1-21). Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees and rulers of the Jews, came to Jesus secretly at night to better understand Jesus’ teachings. Yet, Jesus was compassionate, gentle, understanding, forgiving, and merciful to unbelievers who didn’t know better and many of them, as a result, became truly repentant. He spoke with authority and conviction to the religious elite because He was the Son of the Most High God. Jesus truly wielded the sword of the spirit (God’s Word) because He WAS the Word of God made flesh ( John 1:14). Jesus showed them the blackness of their hearts through Scripture. Jesus thumped the Pharisees (the religious elite of his day) with Scripture because they knew the Scriptures and weren’t obeying them. But thumping others over the head with Scripture may only serve to make them feel judged and make us look like Pharisees. Pointing out one’s weakness or failure in love and humility, with the hopes of restoring them to fellowship with the Lord is priceless. Sharing the truth in love wins, rather than offends, a brother. ![]() Rather than thumping another with Scripture, gentle exhortation goes a lot further. Yet is it our job to make sure they do? Only if we can’t be found disobeying the Word ourselves by refusing to take the log out of our own eye before trying to remove the speck out of another’s ( Matthew 7:3-6). So, the only people who need a thumping with the Word would be believers who are not obeying it. Unbelievers, Scripture says, are “darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.” The Spirit of God is the One who takes those blinders off and opens the eyes and hearts and minds of people to understand God’s Word. However, if I am thumping unbelievers over the head with the Bible, not good. In all three of those scenarios, God’s spirit worked through His Word to convict my heart. But the times in my life that the Bible has pierced my heart and changed my mind have been times when 1) a friend gently used God’s Word to help guide me in a particular situation or 2) I was having a personal interaction with God’s Word and His Spirit caused it to convict my heart of sin and expose to me the error of my ways or 3) a teacher of God’s Word wielded that sword right into my heart as they expounded on a topic that I was struggling with or being challenged by. That tells us Scripture is a powerful weapon that can cut into the very core of us. Hebrews 4:12 tells us “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (NASB). Now, Scripture does describe God’s Word, the Bible, as a weapon. But metaphorically, it is someone who bombards you with the Word of God. Now, that would be a literal interpretation of a Bible thumper. ![]() Picture someone trying to get a truth across to you by taking a huge King James Version of the Bible and hitting you over the head with it. Worse yet, have you been called one when you were simply trying to share God’s truth about a situation?Ĭontext is everything and while we should all know the Bible and share it with those who need to know the truth, thumping them over the head with Scripture might not be the best approach. Have you ever heard someone refer to another believer as a Bible-thumper?
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