By S.C. Shaw
(The Study of God vs The Study of What Makes You Happy)
As I write this I am thinking about people who claim the Christian faith. I want to address all of us for a second. This is a struggle I have within myself constantly and would love to challenge you the way I challenge myself.
Is what you believe, (the specifics of your faith), more about you, or about Christ? Example: The plethora of proclaiming Christians out there that love God and hate His church (which is an oxymoron) have convinced themselves that the church is just blah blah blah, and they’ll tell you all the reasons why the church is wrong. I have heard so many Christians talk passionately about their convictions, their thoughts on the church or theology, when it seems pretty clear it’s not biblical but to suit their particulars. Or the regular churchgoer who has turned church and their attendance into an idol. It’s not God they love most, it’s what they think God will do for them because of their awesomeness. It’s a slippery sloop, because at what point do you draw the line?
You don’t believe the bible is infallible, but you go on believing books written by other men that claim no such authority. Before we jump the gun on imputing meaning in scripture, let us take the time to really learn what the bible says as a whole on topics we are struggling with, or on topics we think we have a grasp on. We have not arrived, so stop talking like you have. You will stop growing in truth when you think you have all the answers. Then it will only become more and more clear that the bible is not only perfect and infallible but sufficient to answer all concerns and is inexhaustible in its ability to help us know God more and serve Him better. With that being said; I am not saying the bible explicitly gives us answers to every question we have in life, but as we begin to behold God more and more through the knowledge given to us in the Bible, then we understand, that is all we need. And the more we submit to God and the authority of the Bible, everything else in life begins to come together. The Holy Spirit will testify to all the little concerns in life because your heart is becoming more like Christ daily. And any good theologian, (we are all theologians, some are bad, some are good), will be the first to proclaim that the more they know, the more the inexhaustible truths of God seem so much bigger. The more you know, the more you know of the things you don’t know, haha.
Let us not allow ourselves, or fellow saints to get caught up in a grocery store gospel. We don’t pick and choose what we like or want to believe systematically. We get under the authority of Scripture and obey the God who made us and sustains us.
To Know Him and to Make Him Known, for His Glory and Our Good.
Closing.
Please don’t let my word be the final word on this. Pick up the Bible, read Gospel-saturated books by good authors, read good commentaries on the Bible, pick up Wayne Grudem’s “Systematic Theology”, read the 1689 London Baptist confession of faith and learn from a man’s lifetime of study and meditation on the Word of God. Most of all, trust in Jesus Christ and know what He has given us is whole, perfect and is for our good and His glory. Love you all!
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
Contributing editor credit: Lisa M Johnston, Th.M. and Pastor/sozofreedom.com
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by S.C. Shaw 