For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword… (Hebrews 4:12)
“In many churches Christianity has been watered down until the solution is so weak that if it were poison it would not hurt anyone, and if it were medicine it would not cure anyone!” (“Always Slamming on the Brakes,” p. 31 from I Talk Back to the Devil by A.W. Tozer)
Love that’s pure won’t lead you astray, won’t hold you back, won’t get in your way. Won’t pervert you, corrupt you with foolish wishes…
…you don’t want a love that’s pure; you wanna drown love; you want a watered-down love…
(Bob Dylan: “Watered Down Love” from Shot of Love)
Several weeks ago, I heard from a local pastor a message about the Word…just the Word…JUST THE WORD…
I have never felt so refreshed.
A.W. Tozer, in the quote above, is mourning over the very real travesty that has for many years been draining the very real life out of what it means to be a Christian – a follower of Jesus Christ. Earlier on in this chapter, he blatantly, yet accurately proclaims how the Word of God is being emptied of its power and how “we must tell stories and jokes and entertain and amuse in order to have a few people in the audience…” (p. 30). His statement about poison that does not hurt and medicine that does not cure seems a far cry from what Paul saw happening in his time when the Word of God was preached:
For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing…
…to the one we are the aroma of death leading to death,…
(if it were poison it would not hurt anyone,)
…and to the other the aroma of life leading to life… (2 Corinthians 2:15-16)
(and if it were medicine it would not cure anyone!)
What has happened to the potency and power that at one time was manifested by God’s Word…His Living Word?
Truth be told, the same thing is happening in most, if not all, realms of this world. Dr. Maureen Stout, in her eye-opening and thought-awakening book, The Feel-Good Curriculum: The Dumbing Down of America’s Kids in the Name of Self-Esteem (2000), reveals this insidious decapitation of the “head” (rigor, discipline) of education. Take a moment to read and digest this observation:
“…grade inflation, lowered expectations, and social promotion, among other things. No one bothered to tell parents that education researchers in their wisdom decided that giving Johnny the C he earned would be bad for his self-esteem and that they decided he should get the A he didn’t earn instead. What they also didn’t tell them – or Johnny, for that matter – was that as a result of this practice, Johnny will not be aware of what he hasn’t learned until it is too late…and finds out that he really doesn’t know very much of anything at all…” (p. 13)
"...What they also didn’t tell them – or Johnny, for that matter – was that as a result of this practice, Johnny will not be aware of what he hasn’t learned until it is too late…and finds out that he really doesn’t know very much of anything at all…”
Now apply that last statement to what God is trying to cry out to us from His Word...
These days, the scripture that warns that many will turn away from the spirit-sustaining Truth of God (John 6:63, 66-68) to watered down versions of it has been and is becoming frighteningly pervasive, and sometimes unbeknownst even to the very ones whose ears are being tickled (2 Timothy 4:3-4)! Denominational differences transfer the division that is supposed to occur between soul and spirit when reading God's Word (Hebrews 4:12) to the Body of Messiah itself (1 Corinthians 12:15-21), chopping up the Truth into pre-packaged pieces so that no one ends up getting "the Truth...the Whole Truth" and separating Believers according to what they prefer to believe! It also seems that a self-esteem issue similar to the one mentioned above has crept insidiously into the Church. Instead of being a sword that can (lovingly) cut the self into pieces (crucifixion) so that it can be "put back together again" into the image of Jesus (Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18), the Word of God has more and more become a tool that keeps self alive: either in a state of discouragement, self-righteousness, greediness (what one can get out of it)...or a combination of the above (and I'm sure there are other states of self-life that are encouraged when God's Word is depleted of its Life...).
Oh how sad it is when Johnny finds out that, at the close of his school years, he doesn't really know very much of anything at all: all because he wasn't told the truth...but how eternally tragic it is when the amazingly glorious Love that God extends to us through every "jot and tittle" (Matthew 5:17-19) of His Word is "watered down" and drained of its power...
"For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; When He hears it, He will answer you...
And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way, walk in it,' Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left."
…you don’t want a love that’s pure; you wanna drown love; you want a watered-down love…
In His NON-watered-down love, 
Terri
