The Bible: Guilty of Disturbing the Peace

In this episode of Scattered Moments, Matt reflects on the unsettling beauty of Scripture—a Book that comforts us while simultaneously confronting us. The Bible does not flatter humanity. It leaves the failures in. No deleted scenes. No polished heroes. Just the raw story of God meeting broken people with relentless grace.

This reflection explores the danger of reducing God’s Word to a theological weapon, a political mascot, or a religious artifact while missing the living Christ at its center. The Bible is not safe. It disturbs false peace, confronts dead religion, and calls ordinary people into radical surrender, forgiveness, courage, and hope.

Featuring reflections on:
• The honesty of Scripture
• Why the Bible still confronts modern religion
• Charles Spurgeon’s famous “lion” metaphor
• The difference between defending Scripture and being transformed by it
• The dangerous beauty of grace

“The Word of God is living and active...” — Hebrews 4:12

Take care, Notice the Scattered moments and share the grace.

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to Scattered Moments. This episode is entitled The Bible: Guilty of Disturbing the Peace. Recently, we've seen God's word questioned, defiled, glorified, and deified. It's caused me to really think about what the word of God means to me. And somewhere in all the noise, I found myself asking, What is the word of God really for? God's word is peace to me, but God's word also disturbs the peace in my life. That's right. It disturbs the peace. It comforts me and then it confronts me. It heals me and then it exposes me. It reminds me that I am loved by God while simultaneously reminding me that I am not yet who I should be. The Word of God stirs me like batter in a bowl. It thickens me. What I love about scriptures is that it refused to flatter humanity. There are no unblemished heroes in these pages, except for one. Abraham, David, Jonah, all of them have their own pitfalls and picadillos. The Bible leaves all the mess in there, no deleted scenes, no image management, no reputation department, just the truth. And somehow that honesty becomes grace. I mean, really, there are stories in scriptures I would have edited out myself. Rage so deep it cries out for judgment, pride that destroys kingdoms, religious men who miss God standing right in front of them, and yet God chose to tell the whole story, not the sanitized story, not the marketable story, the true story. And at the center of it all stands Christ, the word made flesh, the only flawless one in the entire narrative. Meanwhile, my tribe often spends enormous amounts of time trying to defend the Bible from heretics, skeptics, politicians, activists, and whoever the villain of the week happens to be. But as Charles Spurgeon once said, the word of God is like a line. You don't have to defend it, you just have to let it out of the cage. We spend so much time protecting Scripture from the world that sometimes we forget that the Scripture confronts us. Sometimes we use the Bible the way lawyers use precedent. We search for ammunition instead of transformation. We defend our tribe more fiercely than we defend the heart of Christ. And if I'm honest, that temptation lives in me too. Some people reduce the Bible to a theological litmus test. Others turn it into a political mascot. Others place it unopened on the table like a sacred museum artifact, admired, displayed, defended, but rarely obeyed. But the word of God was never meant to be a graven image. It was meant to lead us to God Himself. When I read the Book of Acts, for instance, one thing becomes painfully obvious to me. The Holy Spirit doesn't seem to be interested in our formulas. The Spirit interrupts meetings, he changes plans, sends ordinary people into impossible places, uses the weak, confounds the experts. Meanwhile, modern religion can become so polished, so branded, so carefully managed that we end up more focused on the power of the company than the company of his power. But Scripture keeps wrecking our systems because the Bible is not safe. It calls rich men to surrender, proud men to kneel, religious men to repent, fearful men to trust. It tells us to love enemies, forgive sinners, serve quietly, die daily, and carry crosses. It drags us out of comfortable religion into radical grace. The Bible consistently confronts dead religion, not because God hates his people, but because he loves them too much to leave them trapped in hollow worship. This Bible speaks of resurrections and graveyards and songs sung from prison cells. It dares us to believe in life from death, hope from ashes, and beginnings rising from endings. And yes, it is a frightening book sometimes. Because if we truly believe it, we no longer remain spectators. We become servants, forgivers, givers, repenters, peacemakers, cross carriers, and perhaps most frightening of all, we surrender control. I've realized something lately. I need less noise, less outrage, less commentary about politics, and more time sitting quietly with the word itself. More time listening, more time obeying, more time allowing the Holy Spirit to teach me. Because every time, every single time I open these pages, honestly, God meets me there. Sometimes with comfort, sometimes with conviction, sometimes with correction, but never with emptiness. Never. His word is still living, still active, still accomplishing what he sends it to do. And I look forward to spending more time with the word today. Because spend time with the word of God is never wasted time. Until next time, take care. Notice the scattered moments and share the grace.