This Really Cute Story...

"There's this really cute story in the Bible. It's about this woman named Woman at the Well."


I saw a woman on TV say that last night, and I've had a stomachache ever since. The mental image I got (and some of you worldly people my age will catch this reference--let's repent together) was of Jessica Simpson and her mom shopping and saying "this is cute" about every single thing they liked, which was a lot.

Flip through the pages of Scripture. This is cute. Don't like that. This is cute. This is cute. Look at this--this is cute. No, I don't like that one--it makes me look like a sinner.

The Bible is not cute. Ever see a cute razor-sharp sword? The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces like a surgeon's scalpel, slicing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow. I've had surgery. It's not cute--it's bloody and painful and you don't just walk away from it, even if your surgeon is the best in the world. It discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart. That's not cute. That's in the realm of can-I-please-find-a-mountain-to-fall-on-me-terrifying. We have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide from him to whom we must give account. We are completely exposed before God. God knows the depths of my sin. Cute?

Girls. Sisters. I'm so thankful that we are members of a church where we are exhorted to be skilled in the word. We can't let up. There is no excuse that can trump God's command to be skilled in the word of righteousness. It's easy to be sweet Christian girls and women, but sweet personalities will not lead us to the living Christ. We need to search the Scriptures for Christ, or we will lose touch with the real reality.

The Gospel is not a cute story. We are so wicked that it took the death of a perfect Messiah to atone for us. We need to guard our hearts and our minds, lest our understanding become trivial and commonplace. Babies are cute. The Lord Jesus Christ is unspeakably majestic. Summer dresses and sandals are cute. The Bible is a weapon of war. We are in a trench, not a department store. We are soldiers, not shoppers. We need ammunition, not another outfit. May God help us to be wise women, students of his word, believers of every word he has said!