This week I was annoyed with another person. I spent time trying to figure out why that person bugged me so much and finally realized the problem was not with her but with me. Once that became apparent, it was much easier to resolve than if she was at fault. I can confess my own sins and change my opinions, but I am not able to do much about the failures of others!
This is something like what I tell my hubby when he turns up his nose at chocolate. The issue is not that chocolate is bad but that he does not like it. I’m the same with green olives and soy sauce. Other people like both, so the issue is not about the virtue of those foods but about human preferences.
This also relates to how God is viewed. People will say of Him that He is uncaring, does not exist, disappointing, and a host of other negative descriptions but these are opinions. They reveal much more about the person holding them than they accurately describe God.
These thoughts came to mind as I consider how the Bible says Jesus Christ is BETTER yet how often this is taken to mean an opinion rather than an objective quality. It comes into play when a person dismisses faith by saying, “That is okay for you, but I’m not interested” as if the value of God is a matter of opinion or personal experience rather than a reality.
However, the OT does use ‘better’ to express an opinion based on what is more pleasing. For example, Exodus 14:12 says, “Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
The same word takes on greater significance if the ‘opinion’ expressed comes from a wise or educated authority, someone with experience in whatever they are evaluating rather than giving an opinion. The psalmists spoke of God being better in several ways such as His love is better than life, a day with Him is better than a thousand elsewhere, refuge in Him is better than trusting man or even royalty, and His law is better than silver or gold.
The value and reliability of saying something is better takes on the highest significance when it comes from God, at least for those who know that God is wiser and more knowledgeable than any person and is the ultimate authority on the value of all things.
1 Samuel 15:22. “And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.”
In the NT, Jesus spoke with authority when He said it was better to lose an eye or a hand or be crippled than to wind up in hell, and better to be drowned than cause a believer to sin. The NT authors expressed many ways how obeying God is better than disobedience, a lesson many learn by experience.
The strongest use of better is in Hebrews where Jesus is compared to the former religious practices of the Israelites, practices that were given by God in the OT as they waited for a better way.
Hebrews 7:22–25. “This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”
Hebrews 8:6. “But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.”
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Faith is “believing that God exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.” It is also “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1; 6) It is not about having an opinion such as ‘maybe there is a God’ or thinking He has no power to reward anyone. At best, even the strongest opinions are ‘I hope so’ in nature. On the other hand, faith is a deeper, an ‘I know so’ conviction with a strong assurance that is not based on sight. Faith is a gift from God, a mystery that comes from hearing Him speak and being convinced that He is the ultimate authority on whatever He says. Faith deepens as I listen. It grows deeper every time I act on what I hear. It also is not like opinions because opinions and premises beg to be debated and defended. The reality of God needs no debates; He just is — and while knowing Him begins with faith, experiencing Him reveals how much better He is than any other idea or conviction that is grounded in my opinions.
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