What's your problem?

 

Job is the oldest book of the Bible. The essence of the book is about how God corrected Job's erroneous perception of Him.

The core issue of the fallen human race is having a wrong perception of God which leads to sin, the wages of which is death (Romans 6:23). In today's vernacular, wrong believing leads to wrong living and the reverse is true.

Our intrinsic problem of a wrong perception of God is as ancient to us just as the Book of Job is to the Bible. It is so deeply lodged in the very core of our being that it requires a surgery or circumcision of the heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5; Colossians 2:11-12). God the Father sent His beloved Son in the flesh as Jesus the Christ to give us the right perception of God,

“The Father Himself tenderly loves you”

-      John 16:27

God loves us even when we make mistakes. This is glaringly obvious from Romans 5:8 (NKJV),

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

What then is living right?

The mocker: Oh, you must not make any mistakes.

Certainly not! Right living refers to being conscious of God's love even when we make mistakes. It is precisely when we stumble that we need to be even more conscious of God's love so as to get back up on our feet. David's life exemplified that and the Parable of the Prodigal Son demonstrated it (Psalm 51; Luke 15:11-32).  The first thing David did after he realised his sin of adultery was to appeal to God’s love (Psalm 51:1).When the prodigal son was flat broke, he remembered his father’s love and returned to his father.  

The mocker: How to be even more conscious? You are either conscious or you are not. Hahaha!

It is to recount how God has showered us with His love, grace, and mercy in our lives and remind ourselves that God never leaves nor forsakes us even when we fail. If you confess your sins (Lord, I have messed up and need your help), He is faithful and just to forgive your sins and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9-10). That is walking in the light: being conscious of God's everlasting love even when we fail (1 john 1:5-7).

The mocker: You are misinterpreting the Bible! As believers, you are to not make any mistakes anymore. The blood of Jesus only cleansed us from our past sins. We are to not sin no more when we become believers! God will punish you when you do!

We were not even born when Jesus shed His blood on the Cross. By your assertion, none of us would have been saved. Jesus shed His blood to forgive all our sins; past, present, and future!

“whereas Christ, having offered the one sacrifice [the all-sufficient sacrifice of Himself] for sins for all time, sat down [signifying the completion of atonement for sin] at the right hand of God [the position of honor]”

-      Hebrews 10:12 (Amplified Bible)

The mocker: So you are encouraging people to continue in sin lah? You false believer perpetuating a lie from the pit of hell! Get thee behind me, Satan!

Look at what Jesus said to the adulterous woman as recorded in John 8:11 (NKJV),

“Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

It is the love of God that sets us free from condemnation, which then empowers us to go and sin no more.

God loves us as His very own beloved children. He comes running to help us whenever we turn to Him when we mess up. This is fellowshipping with God. He wants to treats us as His beloved children but we want Him to deal with us as slaves to earn His love. Look at the account of the Prodigal Son.

He prepared a speech of repentance of sorts before returning to the father.

“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”

-      Luke 15:18-19 (NKJV)

Before the prodigal son could complete his repentance speech, the loving father showered him with the best things and threw a welcome home party. It was a picture of our restoration when we are reconciled to God as His beloved children through Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

A sinner who turns back to God in the Name of Jesus is like that prodigal son.

The mocker: But do you know what this guy did last time? How can he call himself a Christian and is now talking about Jesus. Sacrilegious!  I pui ah (spit).

And you are sinless?

The mocker: I am not as bad as him. My sins are excusable but not his. 

“And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

- Matthew 7:3-5 (New King James Version)

Sin is sin. All have sinned have fallen short of God's glory (Romans 3:23).

The mocker: But he should just keep quiet, be humble and not make himself out to be so holy and noble by talking about Jesus. It makes me nauseous! One must have a special calling to be declaring the Gospel.

As written in 2 Corinthians 5:20, every believer is to be an ambassador for Christ to implore others to be reconciled to God as His beloved children. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise and the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty (1 Corinthians 1:27, NKJV).

Paul vehemently persecuted the church but the risen Christ made him the apostle of grace (Acts 9:4, 10-16; Ephesians 3:1-12, Common English Bible). The adulterous Samaritan woman became an instant evangelist after she received Jesus as the Messiah (John 4:28-29, 39).

Why denounce a fellow believer for fulfilling the calling of 2 Corinthians 5:20 when you have chosen to ignore it?

The mocker: I know the Bible inside out. But I choose to remain quiet. That is being humble. In any case, you don’t talk so much lah. You are not any better yourself!

The apostle Paul said in Romans 1:16,

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

For the apostle Paul to say that, he must have faced strong opposition that tried to shame him for declaring the gospel. As believers, we do not back down but stand firm to make known the Gospel.

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.”

-      Matthew 28:19-20 (Common English Bible)

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Dedicated to the potential Mocker (s)

The following extract is taken from https://www.oldest.org/religion/books-in-the-bible/.

It serves to satisfy the appetite of the self-righteous loose cannons who may have issues with Job being the oldest book in the Bible.

Determining when the books in the Bible were written can be difficult because there is a lot of disagreement between academic scholars and those who closely believe in and follow the Bible. Since it can be hard to figure out when in history these stories were first written, the dates on this list are based on the information presented in the Bible and are the dates widely accepted by followers of the Bible.

Whether or not these dates line up with actual history is up for debate and arguments have been made for both sides.

The exact date of the Book of Job is unknown, but there is strong evidence that Job lived in the 2nd millennium BCE and that the Book was written around that time as well. This would make the Book of Job the oldest book in the Bible.

The events in the Book of Job are believed to have taken place before the time of Moses, possibly during the era of the Bible’s Patriarchs.